In the Pink
by Interspark
Summary: Thousands of years before Steven Universe, at the dawn of human civilisation, Yellow and Blue Diamond came to earth, with the plan to create a fourth Gem Matriarch. But will Gem society be able to accept their most unusual leader, burdened with the abnormalities caused by being made on Earth?
1. The Planted Seed

**Hey guys, I hope you enjoy my Pink Diamond origin story. I'm just gonna say off the bat- this is not an AU. It has some pretty out there theories, which might make it seem like one, but it's my idea, for what happened to PD. Enjoy!**

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The Earth was a wild and primal place. So teeming with organic life, that it even looked green from orbit. Roaming the terrain, sea and sky, were all manner of animals, the most resilient of all, being the humans. An exceedingly primitive race, the humans had no grasp of electricity or metal crafting, their most intelligent could barely comprehend the concept of fire. Despite being one of the most populous races on the planet, relative to their size, they were barely distinguishable from any other animal, to a Gem.

At the foot of a vast mountain, with dense forests all around, and the crashing of an ocean audible in the distance, a series of enormous, pink crystals grew from the ground, gleaming magnificently in the sunlight. Although the trees gave way, leaving the crystals a spacious clearing, smaller plant life burst merrily from the ground, all around, including flowers of every conceivable colour.

The area was home to several independent tribes of humans. Many of them were familiar with the formation of crystals in the correct conditions, but none had seen anything as pure and enormous as these, nor with such mesmerising clarity. The humans were not a species which prided themselves on their intelligence. As such, they made no attempt to understand the origin or nature of the crystals, but all could agree on one thing- They had power and significance beyond comprehension. It was common to see humans from various tribes, paying tribute to the crystals, either in the form of silent worship, or offerings of live plants, to be grown nearby, seeds to be planted, or attractive minerals.

On a day like any other, several humans were gathered in the clearing, either respecting the crystals, or simply enjoying being near them, when a dazzling beam of white light rained down from the heavens and collided with the earth with a flash. When the light faded, the humans were stunned to see two gigantic women, easily a hundred times the size of any human.

One was yellow, with formal and practical garbs, pointed shoulders, and matching, hair, which jutted outwards, while the other was blue, and quite the opposite of her companion. She was dressed in a flowing robe, and her ghostly white hair cascaded from her scalp like water. While the yellow woman seemed uptight, and stiff, with an expression that seemed like a permanent scowl, the other seemed like she didn't have a care in the world, except for the fact that she was crying.

They were Blue and Yellow Diamond.

The humans gasped fearfully at their presence. A handful ran, some huddled behind the crystals, hoping they would protect them, while others simply sank into the flowers, too petrified to move.

Yellow Diamond gasped, as soon as she saw the crystals. "What is this!? I see why you asked me to come all this way now..." She said, in a voice that suggested she had been hesitant.

"Something has gone horribly wrong, Yellow." Blue said. "Pink isn't drawing energy from the ground, she isn't growing!"

Yellow placed her hands on Blue Diamond's shoulders, reassuringly. They looked at each other, and shared a nod. With no visible signal, a second beam of light, much narrower than the first, shone down at the Diamonds' feet. With a second flash, a Gem appeared. She was six feet tall, and bright white, her silvery hair bunched up around her shoulders and she looked up, in admiration, at the diamonds, through a clear visor. A triangular, glass-like Gem sat proudly on the back of her left hand.

The Gem was known as Peridot Prime. She was one of the oldest Peridots in Gem society, an inspiration to all Gems in her cut, for her unparalleled wisdom and skill. Peridot Prime was best known for her talents as a kindergartener. There was a popular joke amongst her peers, that Peridot Prime could grow Gems in the dirt under her fingernails. There wasn't an elite army or taskforce in Gem society, that this Peridot hadn't planted and grown. If a kindergarten wasn't, at the very least, remotely approved by Peridot Prime, then it wasn't growing any Gems of significance or importance.

Peridot stood to attention, crossed her arms and pointed her fingertips together, the diamond salute. "My Diamonds!" She greeted. "Can I just say what a tremendous honour this is? That you would call upon my talents for such a prestigious and grand..."

"That's enough, Peridot." Yellow Diamond said, bluntly. "You were summoned here to perform an important task, not to inflate your ego..."

Peridot averted her gaze from Yellow Diamond, fearfully. "Yes... forgive me, Yellow Diamond, I..." Peridot turned around and noticed the crystal formation for the first time. "Oh my stars!" She exclaimed, almost falling backwards.

"You see the problem." Yellow stated.

Blue Diamond crouched down slightly, so as to be closer to Peridot. "We planted Pink Diamond here. This planet has circled its sun at least a hundred times since! And yet the organic ecosystem has only flourished!"

"It's as though this parasitic mudball is drawing energy from her!" Yellow angrily pointed out. She looked around and noticed a human, crouched amongst the flowers. "Get away from her, you disgusting creatures!"

With a wave of her hand, bolts of lightning struck at the flowers, sending several humans running into the forest, screaming. Yellow cradled her forehead, in distress.

"I don't know why you wanted to grow a Diamond on such a vile world..."

"Yes you do." Blue corrected. "You're just stubborn." A ghost of a smile almost crossed her sorrowful expression. "You know that Homeworld resources are depleting. If we commit the energy to growing another Diamond there, Homeworld Gem production might never be the same. Besides... this was... is... to be her world. It's appropriate."

"Hmm, this is troubling..." Peridot agreed, mostly to herself.

With a flourish of her hands, several metal beams materialised in the soil, around the crystals, each with a red gem hovering in the air above it. With a second gesture, Peridot summoned a circular display in front of her.

"Now let's see... hmm... yes that's... wait... no, it can't be... oh my!"

This went on for some time, before Yellow lost her patience.

"What is it?" She demanded.

Peridot quickly turned from her screen. It remained hovering in the air. "Forgive me, but it's..." A grin slowly crossed Peridot's face, as she struggled to contain herself. "My Diamonds! Pink Diamond is perfectly alright! She will emerge in a matter of days!"

Blue Diamond gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth in shock, but her eyes indicated that she was smiling, gently. Yellow frowned in disapproving skepticism.

"How could that be? Look at this place! She hasn't drawn a scrap of energy!"

Peridot was conflicted. She was clearly pleased about the wellbeing of the unborn Diamond, but was hesitant to correct the more sinister one, standing before her. "Pardon me, my Diamond... but... yes she has!"

Yellow Diamond cocked an eyebrow inquisitively. Blue was happy that Pink was alright, but her face displayed a hint of curiosity, too. White Peridot rolled her tongue around her cheek, as she considered how to explain her discovery.

"You see, my Diamonds, as you're both well aware, a gem..." She pointed to the gem on the back of her hand, to distinguish the body part, from the species of the same name, "is, amongst many things, an incredibly advanced bioreactor, which draws a substantial quantity of energy from soil during gestation, and utilizes it in its purest and most efficient form, to make it last an indefinite amount of time."

Yellow frowned irritably, of course she knew that. She was about to angrily say so, when Blue put a calming hand on her shoulder, discouraging her from interrupting the Peridot.

"To lesser species, this makes it seem like we possess infinite energy, although we know full well that no such thing exists." She sniggered, despite herself. "Pink Diamond drew a colossal amount of energy from the ground, just as the two of you did, and just as, we can only assume, my own, Grand White Diamond did, except... and I can't imagine why this is... but once Pink Diamond's gem was fully charged, she returned the energy she had taken from the earth, tenfold!"

Yellow's eyes widened in alarm. "Wh... what!?"

"Is she cracked!?" Blue asked, her smile vanishing. Despite Peridot's claim that Pink was alright, it was alarming to hear that she was leaking energy.

"No no! My Diamond." White Peridot cast her screen into the air with a wave of her hands, where it assumed a height and size more convenient for the Diamonds. It showed a rendering of Pink Diamond's gem, as it slept beneath the crystals. "As far as I can tell, the energy exchange was quite deliberate, and stopped as soon as it began... As for why... well I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest..."

"Well, what did it accomplish?" Yellow angrily demanded. She stomped through the flowers, towards the crystals. "All that energy did was stimulate this senseless plant life, which attracted those foul animals, and form these functionless crystals!"

After just a moment of consideration, Yellow grabbed the top of one of the crystals and made to pull it away, but Blue quickly stepped forwards.

"Yellow don't! She made these!" Blue pleaded.

Yellow rolled her eyes, but she also let go of the crystals without much hesitation. "Honestly Blue, 'she' doesn't even exist yet. All of this is just a freak anomaly which won't happen again, and she certainly won't remember!"

"But it's history! This place, these crystals, even this organic life! It's where a Diamond will enter the universe!"

Yellow rolled her eyes at Blue's sentimentality. "Most of it will be blown to the solar winds once the colony is built." She pointed out.

While the Diamonds spoke, Peridot Prime stared fixedly on the ground at her feet, her hands clasped together in front of her, lest either Diamond think she had any opinion on the discussion.

"Well at least let her see it, and decide for herself." Blue compromised. "We are guests on her planet after all." Blue smiled slightly.

Yellow gave an even subtler smile. "Not yet, we're not."


	2. A New Day

When the full moon shone down on Pink Diamond's crystals, they caught the light in the most spectacular fashion, and it looked as though the entire area was under water, as rippling light danced off the trees, the ground, and the mountain. Besides the incredible display of light, it was a night like any other, and several humans were sleeping peacefully in Pink Diamond's clearing.

One by one, the humans began to stir from their sleep, although they weren't immediately certain why. Slowly, they noticed that the ground was trembling very slightly, but increasing in intensity. The humans rose to their feet, and looked towards the crystals, expectantly. Sure enough, they began to move. Like the petals of a flower, they lowered, pointing outwards from the center, and once they had found their new position, they began to glow a brilliant pink.

The source of the light emerged from the crystals. A large, pink gem, glowing brightly, floated from the center and up into the air. The humans shielded their eyes from the intense light. A gleaming white, humanoid form expanded from the gem, her limbs stretched outwards like she was awaking from a long nap, and hair exploded from her head like a raging fire. The light slowly faded, and pigment was added to the Gem's form. Unsurprisingly, even to the humans, she was pink. Although they likened her to the giant women many of them had seen several days ago, she was considerably shorter, the tips of her spiking hair would just about reach their shoulders, and her clothes were skin tight, with elegant, lilac patterns, against a pink background. Her gem took residence on her navel.

Pink Diamond held her hands in front of her, staring at them with childish wonder. She ran them down her body, curiously and took handfuls of her wild hair. She grinned happily.

"I'm alive..." She whispered. "I'M ME!" She added, much louder.

The humans had once again been stunned by the arrival of a Diamond. They had collectively decided that the crystals were a wondrous thing, promising safety and good fortune, but the last time they had been seen by a Diamond, they were met with hostility. Pink's joyous declaration prompted several of them to scurry backwards from their hiding places, in alarm, quickly drawing the giant Gem's attention.

"Oh!" She gasped at the discovery.

Pink made to climb out of the crystals surrounding her, but she tripped almost immediately, falling from their midst, face-first into the meadow surrounding her. Looking up, she saw a human woman standing immediately in front of her face, looking in her eyes with an equal mix of curiosity and fear.

"Hi there! I'm Pink Diamond!" She said, excitedly, reciting one of the many facts she already knew about herself and her society. "You can call me Pink. What's your name?"

The human rubbed her hand through her thick, black hair. "Ummm..." She trailed, awkwardly.

One by one, the other humans seemed to be slowly retreating, breaking into a run as they reached the forest. Noticing this, the human Pink had addressed waved at her and smiled weakly, before running after her friends.

"Huh..." Pink reacted, somewhat disappointed.

She placed her hands in the grass and pushed herself up to her knees. As she lifted her hands, though, Pink gasped to discover that the grass stretched upwards, as though reluctant to part with her, and pink flowers burst into life amongst the blades. Focusing only slightly, Pink twirled her finger, and a series of wooden sprouts burst from the ground, spiraling upwards, before erupting in a layer of luscious leaves. It didn't look like any of the other plants Pink could see, but even the inorganic Diamond could tell it was a healthy specimen.

Pink grinned and giggled excitedly, she half ran, half crawled from her clearing, into the forest. When she was surrounded by trees, she crouched down, braced her arms by her sides and screwed up her face in concentration. She could feel the power surging from her gem, through her feet, and into the planet below her. After a few moments, Pink leapt upwards into the sky, rotating slowly, she gasped as she noticed the gleaming, full moon for the first time, but she wasn't about to be distracted. She threw her arms upwards, and a mighty wooden trunk exploded from the ground beneath her, like some gargantuan tentacle, rocketing skywards to meet her. The tree reached up and arched over like a wave in the ocean, resting just underneath Pink's feet. Branches came reaching out of the trunk, and leaves and flowers flourished all over.

Smiling contentedly, Pink lay down on the horizontal trunk, at the top of the tree, resting her head on the sturdy bark. Through a gap in the dense canopy, she saw the moon, hovering over a calm ocean, casting a dazzling reflection on the rippling water. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. In her head, she could see Homeworld, and several other important Gem-controlled worlds. Planets covered in metal and stone, teeming with Gems and Robonoids. Nowhere in her stored information, could she find any worlds like this one.

Pink could also see Gems. Mostly, she just knew of different cuts; Pearls, Jaspers, Peridots, Agates, Amethysts, but there were three individual Gems she knew of personally; Yellow, Blue and White Diamond. She knew what they looked like, and how many colonies they each controlled, but nothing about their personalities. Yellow seemed strict and authoritive, just based on her appearance, while Blue seemed far more easy-going. White Diamond, though, simply exuded power and wisdom. Pink didn't know what she, herself, looked like, yet, but if she did, she would have been proud that White Diamond's hair was very similar to her own, except it spiked upwards, like a helmet, while Pink's simply jutted out in all directions.

As she explored the encyclopedia in her mind, and enjoyed the gentle caress of the wind, against her form, Pink slowly drifted off to sleep.

-x-x-x-

The sun shone down on Pink Diamond's tree. Overnight, the anomalous organism had drawn all kinds of attention. Birds were beginning to build nest in its branches, small rodents were tunneling between its roots, and colonies of insects swarmed beneath its bark. Had the tree appeared a few thousand years later, a technologically inclined human would have discovered that the tree didn't closely resemble anything on earth, from the spiraling, curved shape of its trunk, to the diamond-shaped leaves with waving veins, not to mention the pink, apple-like fruit hanging from its branches. Although the earlier humans hadn't studied the entire planet's trees, they could tell that this one was unusual, both because of how it had sprung up overnight, and due to the fact that Pink Diamond was slumbering, high up on its trunk.

Pink was slowly awoken by the warm sunlight, shining over the mountains, and the singing of hundreds of birds, all around her. She stretched her arms above her head contentedly, and slowly opened her eyes. As she realised it was daytime, she sat up quite suddenly, alarming several birds who had been nesting in her hair. Why was the sun up? It had been night time just moments ago! And she felt strange, not bad, just... different, somehow more refreshed and relaxed. Pink's inherited knowledge failed her.

As she got her bearings, Pink noticed that several humans had climbed to the peak of the tree, and were happily feeding on the pink apples. They turned to face her as she sat up, but slowly continued eating. Pink was glad to see that they seemed more comfortable around her. From higher up in the tree's canopy, a human leapt down and acrobatically caught a branch between her legs. The branch bent with her weight, suspending the human, upside-down, face to face with Pink. The human was wearing the furs from various animals, and the shell of a large turtle on her back, all tied together with slender vines. Her matted, black hair hung underneath her. Pink realised it was the same human she had greeted last night. The human held an apple in one hand, valiantly chewing and swallowing her mouthful, despite being upside-down.

"Good morning!" She greeted, confidently, albeit not entirely so. "My name is Tayko. You asked yesterday..."

"Oh... I'm Pink. Oh wait, you already knew that..." Pink said, awkwardly. None of the humans seemed startled by how quickly the day had come, so Pink was reluctant to ask, but did so anyway. "Why is it daytime already? What happened to the moon?"

Tayko cocked an eyebrow inquisitively, and took another bite of her apple. "Ou ere ashleep." She said, through her mouthful, wiping apple juice away from her nose, as It ran up her face.

"A... asleep?" Pink interpreted.

Seeing the confusion on her face, Tayko elaborated, after swallowing again. "It's where you lie down and don't do anything for a really long time, like this."

She dropped from her branch, and fell into Pink's lap, where she lay still, rested her head on her hands, and closed her eyes. Pink bent over and looked at the human, closely. That did seem like the position Pink had naturally assumed. Had she really done that for half of a full rotation of the planet? She could tell roughly how long the days on the planet were, by how slowly the sun moved in the sky, that seemed like such a long time.

"I didn't know Gems could do anything like that." Pink said, in wonder. "And... and what are you doing with that plant?"

Tayko took another bite. "Ou ean ehting?"

Eating? Another mystery. Pink wanted to try that, too, but all of the apples were so tiny. Then she had an idea. She held her hands up to the branch Tayko had been hanging from, expectantly. A tiny, green apple bud formed on it, and quickly began to swell, like a balloon. The colour, pink, spread over the apple like running water, as it engorged well beyond the size of an ordinary apple, even relative to Pink Diamond, and didn't drop into her hands, until it was twice the size of her head.

Tayko and the other humans watched, drooling visibly, as Pink Diamond ravenously shoved her face into the apple, sending juice cascading down her chest. Unsure what to do at first, she quickly noticed the pleasant flavour of the juice and the flesh, and how it intensified when she chewed and swallowed it. She gasped happily at the experience, and ate more. Tayko soon gave into temptation and climbed up Pink's arm, and leapt onto the other side of the apple.

Together (mostly Pink) they devoured the enormous pink fruit, core and all. Once they were finished, Pink sighed happily, while Tayko dropped from her hands, back into her lap.

"Humans do such awesome stuff, that Gems don't even talk about!" Suddenly, she shot to her feet, quickly catching Tayko in her hands, before she threw her from the tree. "It must be because of how great this planet is! I want to see more of it!"

Tayko began to climb up Pink's arm, sensing Pink was about to move again, and seeking the security offered by her flailing hair. "Like what?"

"Hmm..." Pink looked all around. "I want to see the world from the top of that mountain!"

Tayko sat on Pink's scalp and wrapped locks of her brilliant, pink hair around her arms. She leaned forwards, looking over Pink's forehead into her eyes, and snorted. "We can't go up there!"

"Why not?"

"It's way too high to climb!"

Pink Diamond snorted back, and giggled mischievously. "Maybe for a human!"

The gigantic Gem leapt from the tree, towards the towering mass of rock. Tayko gasped in alarm, but securely held on to Pink's hair. The Diamond raced through the trees, towards the mountain and, as soon as she reached its incline, leapt up its slope. For several seconds, Tayko believed that Pink Diamond could fly, before she placed her foot on the rocky surface beneath her, and launched herself further.

Before long, the adventurous human had to nuzzle herself deeper into Pink's scalp, concealing herself entirely, to shield herself from the pelting hail. Her heart raced in reaction to the adventure she was on, even though she couldn't see anything. She had always been the most daring of her tribe, the first to journey to all unexplored lands, the first to charge headfirst at hostile prey, and now she was having the time of her life.

Pink was brimming with joy too. Her form tingled at the sensation in her feet, as they plunged, ankle-deep in snow, and the indescribable feeling of her skin being bombarded with hail. After just a few minutes, Pink landed elegantly on the snowcapped peak.

"Oh my stars... Tayko, look!" Pink gasped.

Tayko poked her face through Pink's hair, and joined her in open-mouthed wonder. The earth was laid out beneath them like a vast, incredible map. Everywhere they looked, they saw an entirely different ecosystem. Pink's tree, in its vast forest, was barely a spec. In another direction, was the immense ocean. In other directions still, they saw more mountain ranges and even the edges of an arid desert. Most incredible of all though, especially to Tayko, were the fluffy clouds, floating beneath them.

"The clouds are... underneath us?" She breathed.

Pink sat down on the edge of the decline. "I know I'm not even a day old yet... but this is the most incredible planet I can even imagine."

The pair sat silently as the sun crept across the sky, soaking in the incredible view. It was at least two hours, before Pink broke the silence with a poorly contained giggle.

"Hey Tayko... Can humans fly...?" She asked, through a broad grin.

"No..." Tayko replied, nervous of Pink's mischievous laughter.

"Well you better start learning!" Pink laughed.

Before Tayko could reply, Pink rested the soles of her feet on the vertical surface of the mountain, and leapt forwards, towards the ocean. The human and the Gem shrieked in excited laughter as they soared through the air. Before long, gravity began to claim the pair, pulling them down towards the water. Tayko let go of Pink's hair, and the pair of them spun in the air, to face each other, with their limbs splayed outwards, as though they were flying freely on the wind, as it howled past them.

As they approached the water, Pink pushed the palm of her hand at Tayko, and she was encased in a bubblegum pink bubble, which gradually slowed her descent. Pink continued to plummet, and curled up into a ball as she landed in the sea. There was a colossal explosion of water. Waves reached high into the sky, even up to Tayko in her bubble. While the human was still marveling at the sphere she was encased in, she barely noticed the wave, before it brought the bubble flying down to the surface of the sea and skipping back to the beach, where it promptly burst, on contact with the sand.

Tayko fell flat on her back, where she lay still, laughing uncontrollably, as adrenaline still surged through her body. She hadn't been lying by herself for long, when she saw, in her peripheral vision, her new friend getting washed up on the beach next to her. Pink Diamond's hair was sodden and clung to her shoulders and back, and most of it was covered in sand. She lay next to her human friend, sharing in her giddy laughter.

Again, the pair shared a moment of silent appreciation, for their spectacular day, staring up at the incredibly blue sky, dotted with fluffy clouds, except this time, it wasn't Pink's laughter which broke the silence.

With a whooshing sound, a colossal, pink, left arm appeared high in the sky, above the sea, slowly drifting towards the beach.

"Pink..." Tayko said, a hint of fear and intimidation in her voice. "What is that?"

Pink lifted her own left arm above her, eclipsing the ship. "I... I think it's mine..." She said, as three more arm-shaped ships appeared behind it, blue, yellow and white.

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 **So yeah, I'm not a fan of the theory that the Diamond ships assemble to form a giant, Diamond robot. 1- Because that's bloody ridiculous, 2- Because Peridot's ship was also a hand, so that's clearly the theme, and 3- Because if the ship in the desert was a pair of legs, they would be absolutely tiny, compared to Blue and Yellow's ships.**

 **Also, you might have noticed that all of the aforementioned ships are righties. In the first draft, so was Pink's, but as you're probably gathering, the point of this story is that she's an oddball.**


	3. The Great Diamond Authority

Pink sprinted through the trees, towards the crystals. Logic dictated that that was where the other Diamonds would be arriving. Her physical form's heart pounded anxiously, what would the other Diamonds be like? What would they think of her? The second she had seen the ships, the realisation had hit Pink like a rockslide, that she hadn't been acting like a Diamond. It didn't take a millennia old Gem to know that Gem matriarchs didn't eat, sleep or play with humans. Pink was suddenly aware that her hair was weighed down with water, her back covered, head to toe in sand, and her feet and ankles caked in mud.

As soon as Pink reached the clearing where she had emerged, she began brushing sand off her back and grabbing handfuls of her lifeless hair, in a vain attempt to make it spring up again. As she desperately fussed over herself, Tayko, who had made an impressive effort to run after the enormous Diamond, leapt to the top of a tree at the edge of the clearing, and walked along the furthest branch from the trunk, so as to be near Pink's head.

"Pink... what's wrong? What are those things?" She asked, picking on up Pink's anxiety, and sharing in it.

"Tayko!" Pink remarked in surprise. "Go! You shouldn't be here!" She said, urgently, but taking care not to sound angry or resentful.

"Why not? What's happening?" Tayko asked, worried that her new friend was in danger.

Pink looked up, anxiously. The four ships had formed a circle, above the clearing, with their hands in the center. From the yellow and blue ships, two objects were descending from the palms.

"Tayko, it's the other Diamonds!" Pink said, quickly. "And I don't know how they act around organic life, so please hide and stay quiet!"

Sensing Pink's urgency, and seeing the objects rapidly descending towards them, Tayko nodded, and retreated into the foliage behind her. Turning around, Pink realised that the objects were two palanquins. One blue, the other yellow, corresponding with the colour ship from which they came. Besides their colour, they were identical. Each had a terraced exterior, with their contents concealed by a translucent veil, an extravagant roof, like the roof of a castle, and four spindly legs, ready to make contact with the ground.

The two vehicles came to rest, landing on opposite sides of the clearing, without a sound. Their veils parted and the doors opened. Inside, Pink was alarmed, and intimidated, (but not surprised) to find Blue and Yellow Diamond, sitting on magnificent thrones. At their feet, taking their hands off the palanquins' controls, Pink recognised a blue and yellow Pearl. Like their respective diamonds, the Pearls were similar in appearance, yet polar opposites. Yellow Pearl stood up straight with her hands behind her back, her nose elevated in smug pride, and her hair pointing upwards. Transparent ruffles decorated her shoulders. Blue Pearl had her head bowed in tired depression, her pointed nose was the only part of her face, not concealed by her lifeless mop of hair, she was wearing transparent material too, in the form of a skirt. Both Pearls' gems were in the same position as their diamonds, at the top of their chests, just below their neck.

The Diamonds rose to their feet and left their palanquins. They soon noticed Pink, standing silently, and awkwardly fumbling her hands, both of the older Diamonds looked surprised, but in different ways. Blue covered her mouth with her hands and gasped joyously. Yellow leaned backwards and cringed, her gasp was one of disgust. Before Pink could gauge the other Diamonds' reactions, Blue ran towards her, her robe billowing behind her, and threw her arms around the smaller Diamond.

"Oh Pink!" She gasped. "You're so beautiful!"

"She's filthy!" Yellow added, angrily. She strode towards Blue and separated her from Pink, with a hand on each Diamond's shoulder. "What happened to you?"

"Oh... I was just..." Pink stammered, but Yellow had asked rhetorically.

"Never mind, we need to get you cleaned up, before White arrives!"

With a snap of Yellow's fingers, four spherical robonoids appeared in the air, all around her, with a glimmer of light. They flew over to Pink, and began orbiting her, starting at her head, and lowering, all the while, shining a yellow light. Pink shuddered as her hair sprung up again, after the robonoids' light destroyed all traces of sand and water in it. Over just a few seconds, the robonoids returned Pink to her state of cleanliness, immediately after emerging from the ground, then, they did the same to Blue, destroying the sand and mud that had stained her robe, when she hugged Pink.

"How do you feel?" Blue asked, softly, as the robonoids vanished.

Pink tried to think of an appropriate answer. The truth was, she felt scared, apprehensive, intimidated, and unsure. "Kinda overwhelmed, I guess..."

Yellow grimaced and mouthed the word 'kinda' to herself. "Never mind that. Are you ready to begin work on your first colony?"

Before Pink could open her mouth to reply, Blue placed her hands on her shoulders, defensively. "Yellow!" She snapped, accusingly. "She's not even a day old yet! Let her adjust!"

"We're Gems!" Yellow said, with a boastful aura of pride. "If she hasn't the courage and motivation to begin now, then..."

"That's enough!" Blue interrupted.

Sure enough, Pink was almost trembling at Yellow's words. How was that sentence going to end? Then she'll be shattered? She certainly didn't feel ready to rule a colony. Did that mean she was defective? Were defective Diamonds shattered? Had it happened before?

Before Pink began full-on panicking, Blue crouched down to her eye level, reassuringly. "Don't listen to her. Most Gems are ready to perform their function the moment they come out of the ground, it's true, but you aren't like most Gems! You're the only Pink Diamond in the universe. You're unique! There's no one to say how long it should take, before you're ready to build a colony!"

"Were... were you both ready, right away?" Pink asked, nervously.

Yellow rested her hands on her hips, and looked away from the other Diamonds, dismissively. "Well I know I was!"

Suddenly, Blue surprised Yellow and Pink by bursting out laughing. She covered her mouth again, and visibly tried to stifle her laughter, to no avail.

"What?" Pink asked nervously. She turned to Yellow. "What is it?"

Yellow responded by folding her arms and frowning irritably. Eventually, Blue calmed down enough to reply.

"She certainly thought she was ready." She said to Pink. She turned to Yellow. "Why don't you tell her about your first military campaign."

"I really don't think that's..." Yellow angrily began, but fortunately for her, she was saved by the bell.

"Yellow, look!" Blue said, her grin vanishing.

From White Diamond's ship, a third palanquin was descending to the clearing. The two older Diamonds immediately sprang into action, they stood on either side of Pink, ensuring they were on the opposite side of the clearing, from where the palanquin would land. Yellow stood commandingly to attention. Blue did the same, for just a moment, before looking over to Pink, and brushing a lock of her hair away from her face.

The palanquin landed. It was several feet taller than the other two, and white as snow, otherwise, it was identical. As the veil parted, Pink felt Blue take her hand and squeeze it reassuringly. The doors opened. Pink could feel the electrical tension in the air. Inside the vehicle, was another throne... which was empty.

Yellow immediately relaxed and groaned loudly, in irritation. Blue sighed and shook her head. "Really... I would have thought she would make time for this, if anything..."

"Wh... where is she?" Pink asked. "Where's White?"

From inside the white palanquin, came a third Pearl. The white Pearl seemed far more relaxed than the other two, but carried herself with an unmistakable air of professionalism, almost as though she were a Diamond, herself. She wore a light blue leotard, with clear ruffles hanging from her shoulders like a short poncho, and her large, circular gem, sat proudly on her forehead.

"My Diamonds." She greeted, confidently, as she strode from the palanquin, giving the Diamond salute as she went. "My Grand White Diamond sends her deepest regrets, that she was unable to be here, for this momentous occasion, in the form of this message."

From the Pearl's gem, a hologram appeared, depicting a life-size White Diamond. Just as Pink barely reached Yellow and Blue Diamond's shoulders, the same could be said for the two of them, and White. The youngest Diamond strained her neck, to look at up the hologram. White Diamond wore a gorgeous, flowing ball gown, with pointed shoulders, much like Yellow's. Her silver hair spiked upwards angrily, but her expression was one of tranquil serenity. Like her Pearl, her gem rested on her forehead, immediately under her hairline.

The hologram burst to life, and White Diamond saluted her fellow leaders. "My Diamonds!" She announced. "It is with my deepest sympathies, that I concede I am unable to leave Sector Omicron-9 at this time. The conflict with the Darmites has reached a critical stage and requires my constant supervision." Like her expression, White Diamond's voice was as calm and gentle as a pond, on a windless night.

Pink had no idea what a Darmite was, but it seemed that, if the Gem society was engaged in conflict, it was understandable that White Diamond would be too busy to attend her initiation. Blue and Yellow Diamond still seemed irritated though, as though they believed the conflict could have been spared White's attention, at least for a short time.

Pink jumped slightly, as the hologram addressed her personally. "Pink... While we're all at your service, should you need us, we all have our own work, to aid the stability, and progression of our society, so I'm certain Blue and Yellow Diamond won't be able to stay with you for long."

Pink ground her teeth, she was afraid of that. While Blue Diamond was easily the more welcoming of the two, Pink had been counting on both of them to help her settle into her role.

"Which is why I'm sending you my primary Pearl. She shadows me in all of my duties, so I am confident that she will be able to offer you any guidance you need."

Pink looked at the Pearl. She was standing perfectly still, with her hands clasped behind her back, and her head tilted upwards, projecting the hologram.

"In addition, I hope you will do me the honor of accepting this gift, of the first Gem under your command." The Pearl made a gesture with her hand, and a pink, circular gem, in a white bubble floated out of the palanquin, towards Pink. It came to a halt, hovering above the youngest Diamond's hands. She quickly recognised what kind of Gem it was.

"This is to be your personal Pearl." White Diamond confirmed. "I cultivated her myself, on board my ship, and bubbled her before she emerged. You will be the first face she sees, and the only Gem to whom she is loyal."

Pink looked at the Pearl and felt a swell of pride, both for the Gem in her hands, and for herself, having received a personal gift from White Diamond.

"The drop ships, delivering the supplies you'll need, to begin your colony are en route." White continued. "And Pink?" She smiled, very slightly. "Welcome to the universe."


	4. Baby Steps

"Honestly!" Yellow paced back and forth in the clearing, scowling angrily. "The Darmites? A team of Agates could probably lead White's forces against them for the time it would take her to pay a flying visit!"

Blue still held Pink's hand, encouragingly, more reluctant to let go, now that Yellow was in one of her moods. "'Probably' being the opportune word." Blue sighed. "You know White. There's not a sentimental shard in her gem. If there's a chance that Gem society could be compromised, then nothing is more important to her." She looked Pink in the eye. "She must care immensely, to have taken the time to grow you a Pearl."

"And not just grow a Pearl!" Yellow continued, with no sign of calming down. "But send her own, instilling her with the gall to tell a Diamond what to do!?"

White Diamond's Pearl had been standing perfectly still, since dissipating the hologram. Yellow pointed at her, to emphasise her point, instilling no reaction, whatsoever. If anything, she looked bored. As though taking Pearl's lack of reaction as a challenge, Yellow stomped over to her.

"And you! I would except White Diamond to keep us waiting, if she ever did show up, but you have some nerve, arriving here after we did!" Yellow scowled.

Pearl's fearless and formal attitude was unabated by Yellow's anger. "As my Grand Diamond's primary Pearl, I have many responsibilities, which exceed the general expectations of my cut." She cast a glance left and right, to the other two Pearls in the clearing. Blue Pearl was staring at her feet, motionlessly, while Yellow Pearl stared daggers at White. "As such, my more traditional duties, such as delivering messages can often be delayed. I'm sorry for the inconvenience... Yellow Diamond."

There were generally two types of Gem, who spoke directly to a Diamond; there were the ones who acted like every moment in their divine presence was the greatest of their life, and the ones who were terrified that any slight slip up could mean their shattering. Blue Pearl was one exception to this rule, and so was White. As she had said, White Pearl was uniquely responsible for managing White Diamond's jurisdiction, when the latter was spread too thin, and had been, for thousands of years. In fact, she was even slightly older than Blue and Yellow Diamond, a fact which, based on the way she spoke to Yellow Diamond, was not lost on her.

Yellow seemed close to exploding, because of Pearl's flippant attitude. She quickly turned to the other Diamonds, before she did something that got her in trouble with White. "At any rate... As White said, I have important duties to attend to, and so do you." She said, to Blue Diamond.

Blue didn't care to disagree with Yellow. Pink had taken up a lot of her time in the past few days, as she should have, but it was about time she got back to her responsibilities. She crouched down to Pink's eye level again. "Pink, White Diamond's Pearl has personally overseen the creation of dozens of colonies, so I'm sure she'll be able to answer any of your questions, but if you need me or Yellow, or even White, for anything, there's a Diamond Line access terminal on your ship."

Blue pulled Pink into another hug. Expecting it this time, Pink warmly returned the gesture, immensely grateful for the gentler Diamond's hospitality. "Thank you."

When Blue and Pink were finished with their longer-than-average hug, Blue and Yellow bid Pink their farewells, boarded their palanquins, and began their return to their ships. As they ascended, Pearl gave a flick of her wrist, and White Diamond's palanquin joined the others, in their return to the sky. Once all three palanquins were aboard their ships, the white, blue and yellow arms broke from their formation, turned to face in different directions, and blinked away into the distance, with a resulting gust of wind which Pink felt, down on the ground, leaving only the pink, arm-shaped spaceship, hanging in earth's orbit.

"Pink Diamond?" Pink had been distracted by the ships, and looked down to see Pearl, saluting her. "With your permission, I'll board your ship and prepare some templates for the colony, for your consideration, and send down your own palanquin."

"Oh... yes of course. Thank you, Pearl." Pink said. Trying to sound like she was thinking the same thing.

Pearl looked at Pink curiously. No Diamond had ever thanked her before. In fact, no Gem of any cut, had ever thanked her, not even a Ruby. "Y... yes. Very good, my Diamond. Your Pearl will be able to pilot your palanquin, once you're ready for her to take form."

Without another word, White Pearl vanished with a sparkle of light, which darted upwards, towards Pink's ship. Pink looked at the bubbled gem in her hands, her Gem. She was anxious to meet her, but there was something else she'd have to do first.

"Tayko. You can come out now."

With a rustle of leaves, Pink's human friend dropped from one of the nearest trees, and walked into the clearing. "What was that all about?"

"They were the other Diamonds. Blue and Yellow, and the hologram was White Diamond."

Tayko understood from context, what the word 'hologram' meant. "Are they like... your mums?" She asked, uncertainly.

The word 'mum' was as alien to Pink, as 'hologram' was, to Tayko. "They're... leaders of Gem society? I am too... kinda."

"You mean the colony?" Tayko had never heard that word before, either.

"Yeah. I think I was made here, because the other Diamonds want this to be a place where Gems can live." Pink said, she smiled cautiously. "I think it could be great! The earth is such a wonderful place, I bet other Gems would love it here!"

Tayko was intrigued by the concept, but cautious. "What are other Gems like?"

Pink considered her answer. What _were_ Gems like? Yellow Diamond was intimidating. Blue was caring. White was distant. White Pearl was formal. Pink had met very few Gems, and couldn't see any pattern between them. Suddenly, she had an idea. She dropped to her knees, and held White Diamond's bubble out to Tayko.

"This is a Pearl, like those little Gems from before. Except she's never had a body outside of her gem. When we let her out, we'll get to meet a brand-new Gem, uninfluenced by Gem society!" Pink proposed.

Tayko was intrigued. After a moment of consideration, Tayko replied, by poking the bubble with her finger, bursting it, and leaving the pink gem inside to fall to the ground. Almost immediately, a bright light shone from the gem, and it rose into the air, much to Pink and Tayko's astonishment. A gleaming white body expanded from the gem, which, when the light faded, was replaced by a mostly pink pigmentation. Tayko recognised the process from when she had witnessed Pink take form.

Pink Diamond's Pearl had much shorter hair than any of her sisters, parted on the side, and tied into a bun behind her head. Her clothes resembled a smart waistcoat and pair of trousers and she had transparent ruffles, resembling a skirt, much like Blue Pearl. Her hair and clothes were a slightly deeper shade of pink than her skin, and her gem sat on her navel, just like her Diamond's. Perched on her nose, was a visor, much smaller than the visors most Gems wore, which covered half of their faces, and more closely resembling what humans would eventually call spectacles.

Pink Pearl landed on her feet, facing her Diamond. She quickly performed the Diamond salute. "My Diamond!"

Pink giggled at being saluted, she suspected that was something she would have to get used to. "Hello Pearl! It's very nice to meet you."

Pearl blushed a deeper shade of pink. "It's... lovely to meet you too... my Diamond." The moment she had appeared, Tayko began pacing around the new Gem, inspecting her curiously. As soon as she entered Pearl's field of vision, the slender Gem shrieked in surprise, and fell over backwards, in her hasty retreat. "M... my Diamond! Watch out! There's a..."

Pink tried not to laugh, and braced her hands at Pearl, in reassurance. "Pearl, Pearl, it's okay! This is Tayko!"

Smiling warmly, Tayko held a hand out to Pearl, to help her up. The Gem looked at it nervously, then over to Pink, who nodded encouragingly. Cringing, Pearl took Tayko's hand, and was pulled up to her feet.

"Th... THANK YOU." Pearl said, loudly sounding out the words, as though Tayko was hard of hearing, bemusing the human somewhat. "My Diamond, is this planet infested with... Taykos?"

Pink frowned, she hadn't thought of that. She had seen a handful of humans, but none of them seemed that similar to Tayko.

"No, I'm the only Tayko." Tayko said. "But there are dozens of humans. About... five different tribes, that I know of."

"Oh..." Pearl reacted. She was clearly embarrassed to discover how articulate Tayko was. "Oh, that's nice!"

Pearl shuffled sideways, towards Pink, staring at Tayko, as though the human couldn't see her.

"My Diamond." She said to Pink, covering her mouth, but making no effort to lower her voice. "Are we here to organise an extermination of Tayko and the... 'humans' in this area, to make way for a colony?"

Tayko's eyes widened in disbelief. Pink was similarly shocked. "Pearl, no!" She said, sounding offended. "We are here to build a colony, but I'm sure we can do that without destroying the life that's already living here..."

Pearl frowned. She hadn't been made with a working knowledge of how Gem society worked, she just knew that Gems built colonies, and that they didn't care for organic life. Pink Diamond knew both of these things too, but neither Gem knew exactly what tended to happen to planets which were colonised by Gems.

In the clearing, Pink's palanquin was gently landing. Despite her relative size, the palanquin was the same size as Blue and Yellow's. Its doors opened expectantly.

"Ah, wonderful." Said Pearl, noticing the palanquin, and the ship floating far above it. "Shall we disembark, my Diamond?" She asked, sounding casual, but failing to hide her distaste for her surroundings and company.

Pink smiled. "Sure Pearl. Go on ahead, I'll join you."

Pearl saluted, and, with a cautious look at Tayko, walked towards the palanquin.

"Well I think we've both learnt a few things about Gems." Tayko said, jokingly.

Pink rolled her eyes. "I'm sure they're not all so casual about..."

"Extermination?"

"Did you see Blue?" Pink quickly deflected. "Can you imagine her hurting anyone?"

Tayko crossed her arms, and frowned in skepticism. "I just hope you know what you're doing with this whole 'colony' thing."

"I do." Pink lied. "With me in charge, this colony will be a great thing for humans and Gems! Trust me!"

Tayko's expression didn't change. She wanted to trust Pink, but the bottom line was that she barely knew her. She sighed. Even if she didn't approve, it wasn't as though she could stand up to Pink's people. "So, what do we do now?"

Pink frowned, sadly. "I have to get to my ship and get to work. But I'll come back really soon, and when I do, I'll come and find you!"

Tayko smiled. "I'm glad I met you, Pink."

Pink climbed to her feet. With a mischevous grin, she brushed her hand along the leaves of the tree Tayko was under. Over the course of a few seconds, hundreds of pink apples swelled all over its branches, and began to fall like rain, all but burying Pink's friend.

"Me too, Tayko."

* * *

 **So here's a question- why do humans and Gems always understand each other? At first you just figure the Crystal Gems learnt human languages, but Homeworld Gems have no problem talking to humans either. I figured maybe Gems translate their language to all species, like the TARDIS, but then why did the humans in the Zoo speak English? I'm probably just overthinking it. Kid's show logic, I guess.**

 **Thanks for reading! x**


	5. Captain on Deck

The interior of Pink Diamond's ship was a magnificent sight to behold. It was enormous, easily large enough for even White Diamond to comfortably walk through, making most Gems look even tinier than they already did, to Pink, and there was a consistent colour scheme of the namesake of its owner. The Palanquin arrived in a docking bay in the palm of the ship's hand, phasing through the centre of the floor. All around the outside of the room, were flat circles, which could be used to summon escape pods.

As the palanquin had ascended, a sinking feeling, which Pink didn't quite recognise, had begun bubbling in her physical form's stomach, one which intensified once she stepped on her ship's cold, metal floor. She realised that the feeling was powerlessness. When her feet were on the ground, she could feel the power of the earth, which she could use to manipulate the plant life. Even soaring on the winds, towards the ocean, she had felt connected to the planet. Even though she knew that her ship was where she was supposed to be, Pink found a small part of her longing to feel the grass between her toes again.

Pink Diamond and her Pearl walked towards the only door in the room, and found themselves in one of the ship's many long corridors. The ship was crewed by a few hundred Gems, either on loan from other Diamonds, or who simply went wherever the collective Diamond Authority required them. Several Peridots milled around open compartments in the ship's walls, and at the end of the corridor, Pink caught a glimpse of a platoon of Rubies, Agates and Jaspers, marching past.

Pink was somewhat relieved to find White Pearl waiting for them, on the other side of the docking bay door. "Pink Diamond." Pearl greeted her. "I've taken the liberty of compiling a list of Gems who are capable of being grown, with this planet's available resources. Perhaps you'd like to consider them, while I give you a tour of your ship?"

A small part of Pink was concerned that leaders shouldn't just do whatever people tell them, but she couldn't deny that that did sound like a good idea. "Yes, please Pearl. That sounds wonderful."

White Pearl smiled, and saluted. With a gesture of her arms, a rectangular screen appeared, hovering in the air, in front of Pink. Then, White Pearl began walking through the ship, with Pink Diamond, and her own Pearl eagerly following.

"The drop ships carrying your resources and temporary Gems will arrive in three rotations of this planet." Pearl said. "You'll have plenty of time to prepare before they arrive."

"Why are they arriving so much later than this ship?" Pink asked.

"It's takes enormous quantities of energy and resources to travel between solar systems instantaneously." Pearl explained. "Only Diamond ships are fitted with such technology. The drop ships have been travelling for decades, carefully calculated to arrive, at approximately the time of your emerging."

"That sounds so inconvenient!" Pink said, feeling a swell of sympathy for the poor Gems who had been cooped up on a ship for so long.

"It certainly is..." Pearl agreed, in a tone of voice that suggested she had been on such voyages herself. "But I hear that Homeworld Peridots have made some very promising breakthroughs in hyperspace travel, in recent years! In any case, one of the first things that are built on new colonies is the Galaxy Warp, which will eliminate the need for ships to travel to and from other Gem-controlled planets."

Pearl's tour throughout the ship, was both thorough, and fascinating. Even Pink Diamond who had, earlier that day, leapt from the top of a mountain, into the ocean, found herself hanging on the smaller Gem's every word. Pink was glad to see that the ship contained large common areas, for the crew to occupy when off-duty. Even though Gems didn't tend to do the things Pink enjoyed, like eating and sleeping, they had spaces in which to sit in groups, and communicate across the ship with data pads, lining the rooms' walls.

Somewhat less tasteful to Pink, was the prison block, which she was pleased to see was empty. It featured corridors lined with empty cells, with hardlight barriers. At the head of the room, there was even a storage unit for gems, without their physical forms. Pink dreaded to think when that would be useful.

Underneath the ship's knuckles, a massive bridge was situated. Because the ship's design offered no actual view of the outside, a colossal display hung on the forwards-facing wall, giving a perfectly rendered depiction of the sky, fluffy clouds, and distant terrain outside. It was so realistic, Pink thought she was looking out of a window, before she remembered having seen from outside, that the ship possessed no such thing. Sitting behind rows of control consoles, were dozens of Peridots, chattering loudly to each other, about the state of the ship, being boisterously commanded by a bulky, intimidating, purple Gem, Pink recognised as a Morganite, although they all hushed simultaneously, to salute Pink Diamond when she entered the room.

Pearl's tour concluded at a room shortly behind the bridge. A vast dome, with a magnificent, pink throne in the middle, next to which was a much smaller work station, which Pink Pearl quickly ran over to, stifling an excited giggle as she went. Just like on the bridge, this room had a rendering of the sky outside, spanning the curved ceiling. Pink slowly made her way over to the throne, much less confident than her Pearl, and took a seat. With a series of simple hand gestures, she found she could easily access any data she required. She found the list of Gems she had been browsing, during the tour, the status of the ship, including maintenance updates and internal temperature and air pressure, and even environmental conditions of the planet below.

"So, Pink Diamond." White Pearl said, seeming proud that Pink was enjoying her tour. "How do you feel?"

"I feel... better..." Pink said, honestly. Even though she still felt uncomfortable, being away from the earth, Pearl's tour had reassured her that being a Gem leader might not be as daunting as she had feared. "Thank you for the tour, Pearl."

"So, have you decided what your first orders as the leader of your own colony will be?" Pearl asked, proudly.

"I have!" Pink immediately replied.

She scrolled through the list of structures that would need to be built. The Diamond Base, the Communication Hub, the Sea Spire, the Galaxy Warp. Pearl had pinpointed areas of the earth, where they would be best situated, except for the Diamond Base, which Pearl had reasoned would have the clearest signal to the colony overall, from the planet's moon, not to mention a more dramatic view of the planet, for Pink Diamond's pleasure. And while they were being built, Pink knew exactly which Gems she wanted to grow first. Pink twirled her finger, rotating one of her screens, to face the two Pearls.

"These will be the first Gems, under my rule." Pink proudly stated. "Except you, of course, Pearl." She quickly added.

"Rose Quartz?" White Pearl asked.

"An excellent choice, my diamond!" Pink Pearl rapturously declared, clapping her hands together.

White Pearl certainly saw the appeal. Rose Quartzes were strong, fast, had an unpredictable array of weapons and powers, and weren't bad to look at either, if you valued that sort of thing. She picked up a display from Pink Pearl's work station (to the latter's slight annoyance) and cast it upwards, to Pink Diamond.

"There's a sizeable canyon in sector 19-Y. The vast, vertical surfaces are ideal for injection sites. It's the perfect place for your primary kindergarten."

Pink looked at the display. It was a vast ravine, with a wide river flowing through the bottom. Even though she knew nothing of Earth geology, Pink could tell the water had carved the gap in the rock. It was fascinating. What truly caught her attention, though, was that the site was bursting with plant life. It was a beautiful place to bring Gems into the universe.

"It is perfect." Pink agreed. "Pearl... erm... my Pearl..." She awkwardly called.

"My Diamond?" Pink eagerly saluted, glad to be getting some more attention.

"Please inform the drop ships. While the Bismuths are working on the structures, we'll inject... 200 Rose Quartzes in the Prime Kindergarten, just to get us started."

"Yes, My Diamond!"

-x-x-x-

The following days were slow for most of Pink's crew. There wasn't much to do, before the drop ships arrived. Pink and her Pearl took occasional trips to the planet below, to visit the construction sites, and thoroughly examining the soon-to-be kindergarten. Pink loved it there. On one particularly quiet day, White Pearl was pleased to find herself fully on top of her responsibilities. As she often did in times like this, she tracked down somewhere private, to indulge in a secret pastime of hers.

Pearl arrived in one of the empty common areas on the ship. It was empty because it was one of the smallest, but still easily large enough for Pearl's purposes. With some tapping on the control panel by the entrance, the door locked, a proximity alarm was set, and the furniture vanished into the floor. Pearl walked calmly towards the center of the room, where she projected five holograms from her gem, each one depicting herself, holding a sword. Unlike her hologram of White Diamond, these ones sustained themselves, rather than being projected from Pearl's Gem.

Reaching for her Gem, Pearl drew a pair of duel swords. Pearls weren't supposed to be able to summon weapons, and no Gem was supposed to be able to use weapons or powers they weren't made with. Pearl had spent years of her life, meditating, trying to manipulate her abilities, like a much deeper variation of when she simply changed her clothes, and ultimately, had succeeded in manifesting her own weapon.

Without delay, Pearl lunged at the nearest Holopearl. All five opponents engaged her at the same time. Pearl's combat style was nothing short of breath-taking, she ducked, dived and rolled, effortlessly avoiding or blocking the holographic swords, like water around a rock, and when opening arose which, due to her speed, was often, she struck ferociously. She dispatched all five holograms in just a few short minutes.

Pearl made her way over to the display screen at the edge of the room, and accessed one of her saved videos. It was of a warrior of a reptilian race (extinct for thousands of years, thanks to Gemkind), who's species had developed a form of martial arts, that utilised twin swords. There was only so much she could learn from videos, and she often had to compromise for her differing physiology, but she found them very helpful with her form.

Pearl summoned twelve more Holopearls, and continued her training. She was incredibly careful not to take any serious damage. Destruction of her physical form could be fatal for her, as she couldn't realistically grow a new body, exactly like her current one, in the time it took for someone to notice she was gone, and should anyone notice her having reformed, then questions could arise, which could reveal her secret.

Pearl thrusted, parried, evaded and slashed. Dispatching the holograms one by one. Her sneaky habit was one she had been indulging in for decades now, with no risks of discovery so far. Her strategy was foolproof. The proximity detector would alert her to the arrival of incoming Gems, giving her plenty of time to instantly disperse her holograms and weapons, and act like she was simply carrying out inspections, and even should she take too long to make herself presentable, the lock would offer her additional privacy, albeit making it more difficult to explain herself. Pearl knew that neither security measure would work against a Diamond, of course, but she was used to sharing a ship or base with White Diamond, who was so rigidly methodical and schedule orientated, she could be used to tell the time. Pearl neglected to consider that she wasn't currently on White Diamond's ship.

With just one Holopearl left, Pearl dispersed one of her swords, folded her arm behind her back, and dueled her last opponent, working to improve her footwork. She had deliberately neglected several openings, to continue her training, and was just about to finish the fight, when the door slid open.

"Pearl, are you in..." Pink Diamond began, but trailed off, upon witnessing the scene she had walked in on. "Pearl?" She asked, surprised and bemused.

"P... P... Pink Di..." Came Pearl's mortified reply, which was swiftly interrupted by the Holopearl's sword, piercing her torso.

Pearl's final thought, before her form exploded, was how utterly, helplessly screwed she was.


	6. Secret Team

It was difficult to describe exactly how a Gem felt, while rebuilding their physical form. An organic life form (or, indeed, a Gem who was partial to such things), would liken the experience to dreaming. With no eyes, ears, nose or skin with which to experience the world around them, the Gem felt as though she was in a void of sorts, while also finding it difficult to think clearly, due to assigning mental energy to reforming.

Gems were, however, able to assign urgency to their regeneration, at the risk of reforming incorrectly, for instance, if they were in battle. Pearl, who normally spent weeks reforming (with her Diamond's permission, in advance), was desperately anxious to reform, since, when her body was destroyed, she was uncertain if she'd even get a chance, before she was shattered.

Of course, Pearl seriously doubted Pink was the type to shatter Gems, but White Diamond was another matter entirely. She was ruthless, unfeeling and methodical, and while having a sword-fighting Pearl might seem like an inconsequential oddity, there was every chance that, if she found out, White would see Pearl as too unpredictable, and untrustworthy, due to her secretive nature.

Barely two hours after her run-in with her holopearl, Pearl reformed. Impressively, she looked very similar to how she had looked before. It would take a keen eye to notice the slightly increased length of her ruffles, or how her leotard now extended to a pair of shorts.

Pearl was startled when she noticed her feet touch lush grass and soil. For a split second, she thought she had simply been thrown from the ship and abandoned, before her eyes adjusted, and she noticed the light pink walls and ceiling of one of the empty storage units on Pink's ship. The floor was covered in a dense layer of soil, from which grass and flowers burst up merrily, including the occasional twisting tree and shrub. The first thing Pearl noticed, though, was Pink Diamond, kneeling in the grass in front of her.

Pearl's mouth flew open, long before she had decided what she should say. Should she beg for forgiveness? Secrecy? Spout a half-baked lie, to explain herself? Luckily, Pink quickly spared her the embarrassment.

"Pearl, wait, please let me speak." Pink said, having foreseen Pearl's anxiety. "I've been thinking about what I saw, for the last couple of hours, and I think I know what you were doing, and why."

Pearl remained silent. She was still incredibly nervous, but now that she realised she wasn't on trial, before White Diamond, she was more inclined to politely hear Pink Diamond out. A small part of Pearl also began to wonder why there was plant life on Pink's ship.

"You're... White Diamond's primary Pearl." Pink carefully began to explain her theory. "You have more responsibilities than any other Gem in the universe, except a Diamond, and even then, you do way more for Gemkind than I do! But despite everything you can do, and everything you have done... other Gems still just treat you like... like..."

"A Pearl..." Pearl glumly finished.

"But you feel like you can be more than that! You know, deep in your gem, that you could be a skilled warrior, or even a leader, but you know that if you let other Gems see that part of yourself, they'll tell you you're defective, that you should be shattered or abandoned, just for being yourself. So, you have to embrace that part of yourself in secret, or else it feels like you're letting the universe wipe away who you really are..."

Pearl was astounded, so much so, she forgot to be nervous. "How did you know all of that...?"

Pink smiled warmly. She scooped up a mound of soil between her hands and held it between herself and Pearl. Pearl's confusion gave way to yet more astonishment, as an enormous, pink flower burst from the soil, its roots emerging from the dirt and snaking around Pink's arms.

"Did you know I have the power to create organic plant life?" She asked, rhetorically. "Gems aren't supposed to have any regard for organic life but, even though I'm inorganic, it's a huge part of who I am. I thought I could repress that part of me and be the leader I'm supposed to be, no matter how bad it made me feel, but when I saw you sword-fighting, I was inspired!"

There were many ways Gems would feel, in response to a Gem acting outside of her function, especially a Pearl; disgusted, outraged, offended. 'Inspired' was definitely a new one.

"I had the robonoids fill this room with soil, so I could grow plants on the ship, and come in here to be myself, and it's already making me feel a thousand times better!" Pink put the flower down and it buried its root in the soil, then, she gently took Pearl's hands, each between two of her fingers. "Thank you, Pearl!"

Pearl's emotions flew back and forth in her head, like the shards of a crystal. In a moment, she had gone from terrified she was going to be shattered, or at the very least, fired, to overjoyed, to an extent she had never dreamed possible. Pearl had come to accept a possibly eternal life, without ever meeting someone who, not only understood her, but accepted and encouraged her to be herself. She smiled cheesily and, despite her best efforts, tears began to flow from her eyes. Pink leant down and hugged Pearl, as best she could, given their differing sizes. She pressed the side of her face against the smaller Gem, and held her hand against her back.

"I'm gonna lock this room, against everyone except me and you. If you want, you can keep training here. This can be a place where we can both be ourselves." Pink proposed.

Pearl nodded her head enthusiastically. Pearl and Pink spent the remainder of that day, in their new sanctuary. The room was generously sized, easily large enough to accommodate a small forest, which was exactly what Pink grew in it. Pearl didn't share Pink's adoration of plant life, but she had to admit, the harmonising colours were pleasant to look at, and the twisting roots and flailing branches forced Pearl to improve on her footwork and spatial awareness. Unable to help Pearl train, herself, Pink summoned a series of mechanical training dummies from the warriors' quarters, which Pearl found far more helpful, than fighting versions of herself.

The day flew by in a blur, and it seemed like barely any time had passed at all, when a beeping sound came from the door, indicating someone on the other side. With some hasty help from Pearl, Pink updated the room's security in such a way that, even when the door was open, Pearl and Pink were the only people who were able to, not only walk through the open doorway, but even see inside.

The door opened, revealing a hazy, white blur on the other side, which Pink stepped through, to encounter her own Pearl.

"My Diamond." Pink Pearl saluted. "I'm sorry to interrupt... whatever you were doing..." It couldn't be more obvious that Pink Pearl would very much have liked to know what her Diamond had been doing. She paused for a second, hoping Pink would tell her, and frowned slightly when she didn't. "…but I wanted to inform you that your drop ships have arrived!"

Pink gasped. "Yay!" She cheerfully declared, before running down the corridor, to her control room.

Not having received any orders from Pink. White Pearl had deactivated the training dummies, and followed her through the veil in the doorway, surprised to find Pink Pearl on the other side.

Pink Pearl frowned at White. Her bitter expression communicated an emotion fairly rare amongst Gemkind, but common enough to be instantly recognised by White. Jealousy.

"What were you two doing in there?" Pink demanded.

"Excuse me?" White replied, indignantly.

"If Pink Diamond is having some important, secret meeting, I should be involved, I'm her Pearl! You, are not!"

White rolled her eyes. "If you take issue with how Pink Diamond conducts her affairs, you should take it up with her, not me..."

Pink Pearl scowled. "Don't you give me that! Acting like you're just an everyday Pearl, following orders and serving Homeworld like you should. I've been talking around the ship, I know who you are! I know your secret!"

Pearl felt a twinge of panic, which she managed to quell, before it reached her face. It was very unlikely that Pink Pearl actually knew her secret.

"You're a narcissist!" Pink explained, putting White Pearl at ease. "You think you're so much better than other Pearls, even other Gems, who are objectively better than both of us!"

Pink took a menacing step forwards, clearly expecting White to back away... she didn't.

"You are nothing more than a common Pearl!" Pink angrily hissed. "Not even one who belongs on this ship! You're only here to put White Diamond's mind at ease!"

White Pearl pretended to be stunned. "Oh? Why ever would you say that?" She asked, sarcastically.

"Well... I... what?" Pink asked, realising she was being backed into a trap.

White paced around Pink. "Surely you're not suggesting that my Diamond fears that yours is incompetent?"

"Of course not!" Pink immediately snapped, trying to regain some control. "I was just..."

"I should hope not!" White interrupted. "Because I've seen Gems shattered for much, much less than suggesting a Diamond can't function without the help of a... what did you say? Common Pearl? To say nothing of suggesting another Diamond thought the same!"

"I... I never said..." Pink feebly tried to retort.

"Don't you have work to do?" White replied, coldly.

Pink stamped her foot in frustration, before spinning around and walking after her Diamond. White took a moment to chuckle to herself, before following suit. In the control room, Pink Diamond was sitting in her throne, looking excitedly at the ceiling, through which she could see seven disk-like ships, each with three legs, flying in formation, towards the planet.

"There you two are!" Pink Diamond excitedly and impatiently greeted them. "Pearl... my Pearl... get ready, I'm about to make contact!" She patted the armrests of her throne, like a giddy child.

"Yes! My Diamond!" Pink Pearl said, with all too much enthusiasm.

After Pink Pearl took her place, and White Pearl stood expectantly next to the throne, Pink tapped some buttons and a display appeared in front of her, featuring a Gem. The Gem on the display had dark green skin, tight-fitting, black clothes, and a wild mane of formless, white hair. Curiously, she had no eyes, instead, there was a green Gem, with a black circle in the middle and a narrow, pupil-like slit in the very center, where her eyes might have been.

She saluted. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Pink Diamond!" She said, with a confident, tomboyish edge to her voice. "Pyrite, reporting for duty! It's been a long trip, and I've got a bunch of Bismuths just itching to get building!"

"That's what I like to hear, Pyrite." Pink cheerfully returned the greeting. "We've got some plans for our initial structures, as well as the plans for our very first kindergarten!"

As Pink spoke, her Pearl transmitted the plans that had been made. Pyrite looked to the side, as she received the plans.

"Yeah... this looks real good! Pink Diamond, I think this planet's gonna make one gorgeous colony!"

With that, the ships dispersed. One flew to the moon, while the other six spread out as they descended to the planet below, and construction on Pink Diamond's first colony began.


	7. Heated Discussion

The years wore on, on planet Earth, going much slower, for the mortal humans, than they did for the immortal aliens who were becoming a more and more common sight. True to her word, Pink Diamond had dropped in on her friend, Tayko, from time to time, but as work on the colony escalated, and Pink became busier, her visits grew further and further apart. There was no clear moment, when either accepted that they would never see the other again, and as such, no tearful farewell.

It was several years after Pink Diamond's arrival, when trouble began brewing for Tayko's tribe. The small band of humans had taken refuge in Pink's tree. After she had emerged from her crystals, they had lost their clarity and become cloudy, and the clearing had slowly become overrun with tree sprouts, as such, the tree, Pink Diamond had grown, had taken their place as a spiritual hub for the local humans.

For a while, concern had been growing, fueled by superstitious whisperings. Some humans began to distrust the power of the tree, and its ability to bear ripe apples all year round. There were rumours of humans from other tribes having run-ins with Gems, with disastrous and violent consequences. As with any escalating conflict, there eventually came a breaking point, when the tribe had been assembled, by an individual who considered himself their leader, as the sun shone merrily down, through the tree's leaves.

"This has gone on for long enough!" Orkrah snapped. He was one of the oldest members of the tribes, which wasn't saying much, since humans generally lived to their late twenties. "It's been getting more suspicious by the year, and it's about time someone actually said it..."

The group stood silently in a circle. Tayko had her arms folded and was exasperated by the formality that had gone into entertaining Orkrah's fear-mongering. When it became apparent that no one else was going to speak up, she sighed and said it herself.

"Ashari is too old..." She sighed.

Ashari was the oldest member of the tribe. Although humans hadn't yet formed any kind of calendar, with which to count the years as they went by, they had been growing more and more aware, as Orkrah had said, that the oldest members of the tribe simply weren't dying. Generally, when a human got too old, they got slower and weaker, until they eventually succumbed to disease, wild animal attack or other external influences, which they were no longer fit enough to avoid. Since living in the tree, though, the fatality rate was more or less consistent between the younger and older members of the tribe. As the humans got older, they were consistently strong and quick.

"What's your point?" Ashari asked Orkrah, her hands on her hips, indignantly. "Last I checked, 'not dying' is a good thing."

"It's this tree! It's corrupting us, bending us to its will! It's dangerous!" Orkrah said, pacing around the inside of the circle, staring at people intimidatingly.

Tayko groaned loudly, as if to say, 'Why are we all still listening to this idiot?' "Okay, firstly, like Ashari said, what's happening is a good thing! Second, you have no proof that this tree is doing anything to us! You're just trying to scare people so they'll pay attention to you..."

Orkrah rounded on her. "No proof? What do you call this!?"

Orkrah pushed his hand into one of the folds of his animal skins, and pulled it out, with two fingers pressed together, and held his hand up to Tayko. At first, she thought he was simply making an obscure hand gesture, before she realised that he was holding a single, lightly-coloured hair.

"A grey hair?" Tayko asked. "You're old, it happens."

Look... closer..." Orkrah scowled.

Tayko did, squinting at the hair, eventually gasping in surprise. The hair wasn't grey... it was pink.

"One of the first aliens grew this tree, to poison us with these apples!" Orkrah loudly announced.

"Oh, shut up!" Tayko snapped, angrily. Orkrah's presumptions were becoming unbearable. "You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"No? I've seen the aliens with me own eyes! Heard their plans, as they whispered them in secret! One way or another, they're going to kill us all!"

As the group began to gasp and murmur their concerns, Tayko quickly tried to draw attention back to her. "The nearest Gem base is a two-month hike from here, and I know, because I've made that hike!" She said. "You've never left this forest!"

"Oh, well then tell us, since you're such an expert." Orkrah spat. "What do these 'Gems' want with us?"

Tayko's mind raced as she thought of an honest answer, which would diffuse the situation. The only Gem she knew personally was Pink Diamond, and she was one of the gentlest souls she had ever met, but she got the impression that she was something of an unusual Gem. Pink Pearl's words rang in Tayko's ears, she had asked Pink if they were plotting genocide, as casually as a human might mention having stepped on an anthill.

On her trip to explore the nearest Gem base, she had discovered bulky, blue and purple Gems hauling enormous slabs of metal, like they were bundles of twigs, building some tall, tower-like structure, on a wide, metal platform with a fence, made of light, around the perimeter. When she had tried to sneak inside, she had barely made it inside the door of the tower, when her hair had been grabbed from behind by one of the Gems, with a black apron and rainbow-coloured hair.

"Whoa there, meat sack!" She had said, with an endearing chuckle. "It ain't safe for you little guys in here!"

With that, the Gem had thrown Tayko over her shoulder, walked to the edge of the base (completely oblivious to her struggles), and hurled her back over the fence. Tayko's heart had raced, as she feared what might have happened if the Gem that had caught her shared Pink Pearl's lack of compassion.

As for the tree, Tayko was certain Pink had simply grown it to test her powers, since she had fallen asleep in it and then left it, without a second thought. Any effect its fruit was having on the humans, was strictly an unintended by-product, Tayko was sure. She just wasn't sure how she would convince her tribe of that.

"I... I don't know!" Tayko said, snapping back to the present. "But if they wanted to kill us, they wouldn't need to grow poisonous fruit to do it! Have you seen that giant, pink arm in the sky? They could just squish us in a second, if they wanted to!"

In hindsight, Tayko saw how that might not have been the most reassuring thing she could have said. The negative atmosphere escalated further, and the panicked chatter intensified.

"We need to rid ourselves of our connections to these aliens, immediately!" Orkrah bellowed. He produced two pieces of flint from his skins. "And we can start by burning this tree!"

"No!" Tayko cried.

She quickly ran across the circle, between the tree, and the rest of the humans. Her attachment to the tree stemmed both from her love of its apples, and attachment to her long-lost friend, who had grown it.

"Why so reluctant, Tayko?" Orkrah sneered, suggestively. "Do you know something we don't? You were always close to the giant, pink alien! Everyone knows you've had meetings with her, ever since she came!"

"Hey... that's right..." Someone pointed out.

"They vanished together, the day the tree grew."

"Tayko, why did the aliens grow this thing?"

"Everyone calm down!" Tayko demanded, in her most authoritative voice. "There's nothing special about the tree. Pink grew it because she felt like it, and now it grows delicious apples! That's it!

"Liar!" Orkrah snapped. "She's on their side! We need to burn this tree, and we can't let her stop us! You two, restrain her!"

He indicated to two of the stronger members of the tribe. They looked at each other, with uncertainty.

"Hesitate today, and those creatures will kill us all tomorrow!" He threatened.

Tayko looked between Orkrah and the pair he was hoping would be his thugs, anxiously. To her dismay, they sighed, and walked towards her. Backing defensively towards the tree, Tayko lunged with her fist as one approached, but not only did the punch have little impact, he grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. Using him for balance, Tayko threw a jump kick at her other assailant, with identical results. The pair held Tayko horizontally, while she writhed and thrashed, and screamed insults at the entire tribe.

"You psycopath!" She screamed at Orkrah, as he smugly walked past her. "You're so pathetic, you'll destroy our primary source of food, just so people will pay attention to you!"

Orkrah ignored her, and walked to the base of the tree, and struck his flint together, quickly igniting the fallen leaves at its base. The group backed away in anticipation. Tayko continued to scream and struggle. With one last exertion of energy. She arched her back, pulling her two captors together slightly, then lunged upwards and sank her teeth into the hand around one of her wrists. The man screamed and dropped her, surprising the other enough to let go of one of Tayko's ankles. She bent her captive leg, pulling herself upwards, and delivered a resounding kick to the other one's chin.

While her two former captors cried in pain, Tayko scrambled to her feet and charged at the tree, ignoring the scolding pain on her exposed skin, as the flames intensified. She knew she was too late to extinguish the fire, but if she could secure enough apples and, by extension, seeds, maybe she could still preserve Pink's legacy. Unfortunately, Pink's apples didn't fall from the tree until they were picked, which meant she'd find none on the ground.

Tayko fearlessly charged at the point of the bark where the flames were the weakest, and began to climb. Despite quickly gaining distance on the climbing flames, Tayko felt painful burns on her legs and ankles. She choked and coughed as smoke rose up and enveloped her. Within a few minutes, she reached the point where the bark stretched over horizontally. Tayko ran along the bark, gulping in air as she moved away from the path of the rising smoke and heat.

With haste, Tayko grabbed the biggest, healthiest-looking apples she could find, and stuffed them into her furs and skins, tightening the vines holding them together, forming a makeshift container. As soon as she was done, the trunk lurched downwards several feet, as the fire burnt through it, and it began to fracture. Tayko scanned the horizon, looking for an escape route. Athough Pink's tree was the tallest for miles around, there was another, almost half the height, possibly within jumping distance.

Tayko backed up on the trunk, towards the fire, and charged forwards. Seconds before she was about to jump, the tree snapped in half, and the horizontal trunk vanished from beneath her as it swung downwards. Tayko screamed and windmilled her arms, as she plummeted towards the neighboring tree without control. Her heart flew up to her mouth as she free-fell, before slamming into the awaiting branches of the smaller tree.

Not without gaining a plethora of bruises and scrapes. Tayko fell gracelessly through the tree, colliding painfully with several branches, and ultimately landing flat on the ground, with her ears ringing, and her heart pounding. Fortunately, she had fallen on the opposite side of the tree from her former tribe, but over the sound of the roaring fire, she heard Orkrah calling, "Hurry! She jumped clear of the fire, we can't let her return to the aliens!"

Tayko spent the following hours alternating between running and hiding. Vanishing from the forest so effectively, she may as well have perished with the tree, as far as the humans knew. While she was out of her depth on a Gem base, this forest was her home... at least it had been... As the sun set, Tayko sat on a ridge, a short climb up the nearby mountain range, staring tearfully, at the column of smoke that rose from the blackened scar in her forest.

"I'm sorry Pink..." She whispered, feeling the apples under her furs. "I won't let this happen again."


	8. Green Diamond

Fifty years after Pink Diamond emerged, the colony was coming along splendidly. All of the initial structures had been built, including the Galaxy Warp, which meant Pink Diamond and her crew were far more in touch with Gem society than before. Blue and Yellow Diamond had paid several more visits, to check on Pink's progress and offer advice, and Pink had had the chance to briefly leave earth, and explore the rest of Gem space. She had even been able to formally meet White Diamond on Homeworld.

If Pink had felt out of touch on her ship, it was nothing, compared to the feeling of being on the Gem Homeworld. Pink didn't like to admit it, but she detested it there. She felt like she was suffocating, being so many lightyears away from the nearest plant. As it turned out, Pink Diamond's first impression of White had been accurate. She was cold, efficient and practical. She had congratulated Pink on her progress so far and wished her well in the development of her colony, showing no interest in spending any more time with her than necessary.

With the colony underway, Pink Diamond and White Pearl had had to bid a tearful farewell, as White Diamond required her Primary Pearl back. They had journeyed to the Galaxy Warp without an entourage, so Pink could see Pearl off in private, and so that they could promise each other not to let Gem society make them forget who they really were.

Pink's first kindergarten was progressing nicely too, the spider-like injectors had crawled up and down the canyon, at the command of a team of Peridots, who had them drill into the surface of the rock, and inject the dirt with a liquid, mineral solution, which would ultimately lead to the formation of solid gems.

Pink had been excited at first, but she was only now beginning to understand what an effective kindergarten entailed. No Gem ever spoke of the environmental decay, caused by Gem production, not because it was a secret, or because it was distasteful, but simply because they didn't care. Pink, on the other hand, cared very much. She had been looking forward to seeing the joyous faces on her Quartz soldiers, when they emerged into the canyon, and saw the flowing river, the plentiful flowers, and the thriving trees, but as the years passed, Pink began to slowly notice the damage being caused.

One by one, the trees in the kindergarten were beginning to wilt, the river had shrunk to half of its former width, and the grass felt dry and lifeless beneath Pink's feet. It had happened so slowly, she hadn't noticed at first. Like how a human parent might not notice their child growing, until they needed a new set of furs, Pink didn't realise what was happening, until the day she gently ran her hand through a tree, accidentally causing several leaves to fall, followed by an entire branch. The inside of the wood was rotten and white.

Instantly, she had summoned the three chief Peridots in charge of managing the kindergarten.

"Look at what's happening to the local plant life! Why is this happening? What can we do!?" Pink babbled, in a panic.

The three Peridots shared nervous glances. They were all similar to Peridot Prime, except for being various shades of green. Two of them had visors, the third had a slender pair of gauntlets. One's gem was on the side of her cheek, the second's was on the back of her forearm, and the third's gem was in her navel, like Pink. They seemed nervous, as though they ought to be panicking about the plant life too, although they weren't sure why.

"Erm... pardon me... my Diamond." One said, drawing attention to herself by raising a finger in the air, nervously. "But... what's wrong with the plants?"

Pink reacted, just as the Peridot feared she would. She gasped, seeming shocked and offended. "'What's wrong'!? They're dying!"

"Yes!" Another Peridot eagerly agreed, still unsure what the problem was. "Your Rose Quartzes are siphoning the energy from the ground perfectly! I'm sure they'll be a magnificent cut!"

"Siphoning...?" Pink whispered. She had thought that unborn Gems were charged by the injectors. "You're telling me that this is normal...?"

The Peridots shared another nervous look. "Yes... my Diamond. This is what Gems do."

Since Gems weren't made with this information, Pink's ignorance didn't surprise the Peridots. What was confusing and alarming them, was how she was reacting to it. Most Gems, upon learning this, would be casually interested, and think no more of it, like how a human might react to being told there are 206 bones in their body.

Pink Diamond reeled. What was she going to do? Her dreams collapsed around her and shattered. How could she possibly create her part of an empire, if it meant destroying the earth? For all she knew, it was the only planet in the universe, with organic plant life. Suddenly, she thought of Homeworld. How could she have been so stupid? She had assumed Gem-controlled planets were simply rich in minerals, enabling Gem production, but what if they had once been as green and full of life as earth was... before the Gems arrived?

Pink was about to collapse to her knees, when a glimmer of hope shone through her despair. "Wait, what about me!?" She demanded, to the Peridots. "When I emerged, the area was still full of plant life!"

The Peridots were surprised by this.

"Really?

"That's odd..."

"But you're a Diamond! You should have drained the continent!"

Pink sighed, having hoped the three of them would know more about her birth. "Do any of you know who would know more about how I was made?"

The smaller Gems briefly conferenced. "Well, Blue and Yellow Diamond kept the honour of injecting you, to themselves, but Peridot Prime oversaw your gestation! She might be able to help with this... problem?"

The Peridot who spoke up, was clearly too timid to pry further, but her sisters were clearly braver.

"Forgive me, my Diamond." One of them said. "But why exactly is it a problem if the plants die?"

Pink frowned, crestfallen, hurt by the dismissiveness. She knew Gems didn't care for organic life, but she had hoped, at the very least, that the idea of caring wouldn't be entirely ridiculous.

"Because I like them!" She said, and then paused reluctantly. "Don't you?"

Again, the Peridots nervously considered their words.

Pink rolled her eyes, before they replied. "Never mind, just... wait here."

Turning around, Pink walked further down the valley, out of the Peridots' earshot. She lifted her fingers and made a gesture in the air, and a circular display appeared, featuring Pink Pearl, sitting at her desk in Pink's control room.

"My Diamond." She saluted. "How can I serve you?"

"Hey Pearl. Can you put me in touch with a Peridot called... Peridot Prime?" Pink asked.

Pearl frowned, she wasn't familiar. She tapped on her controls and quickly found the relevant information. "Ah yes, here she is. Putting you through now."

Pearl vanished, and the screen was blank for several seconds, before she was replaced by an image of a white Peridot. Peridot Prime was sitting at a work station, much like Pearl's, in a spacious, white room, with a stunning view of space, through the domed ceiling. She was surrounded by data screens, hovering in the air around her.

She looked up suddenly at the screen. "Pink Diamond! My stars, what a coincidence! It's an honour to talk to you in person!" She scrambled to her feet and gave the Diamond salute.

"Hi Peridot. Some of my own Peridots were just telling me that you oversaw my gem, before I emerged?"

"I did indeed have that honour!" Peridot confirmed. "You were a most peculiar case..." She frowned, and cleared her throat, cautious of being disrespectful. "I mean, those crystals, and the unique effect on the ecosystem. Then again, I suppose it's fitting that such a uniquely exquisite Gem, should have such a unique, personal kindergarten!"

In other circumstances, Pink might have blushed, but it was a serious situation. "That's actually why I'm calling. Do you know why I didn't absorb the energy from the ground, like most Gems?"

"Well... you actually did draw energy from the ground, except, once you were fully charged, you returned the energy back to the earth. Frankly it's stumped me ever since, I was just reviewing the data I gathered when you called."

Pink was crestfallen, but she wouldn't give up. "Are you busy right now, Peridot? I mean, does White have you working on anything?"

Peridot adjusted her visor slightly. "Not really, no. With the war with the Darmites over, Gem production has slowed, and I've recently completed an inspection algorithm which, to be honest, has drastically reduced my kindergartening workload." Sure enough, Peridot sounded bored of her situation, which was perfect for Pink.

"Well, if White doesn't mind, how would you like to come and help me on a very important project?" Pink proposed. "I want to understand how I was made and what caused my gem to act the way it did."

"Are... are you suggesting we conduct some... experiments?" Peridot gasped. Her voice was brimming with anticipation and joy, as though she had been waiting her entire life for such an opportunity. She bit her bottom lip and tried to keep herself from breaking into an enormous grin.

"Yes! If we can isolate what it is about me, that caused the energy exchange, and apply it to the designs for future Gems..."

Peridot unapologetically interrupted Pink. "…then Gem production would be massively more efficient! We could generate ten times the number of Gems we normally could, per kindergarten!"

Clearly this was a concept Peridot Prime had spent a great deal of time and energy on, and one which no one had yet encouraged her to entertain. That hadn't been what Pink was about to say, of course, but she was glad there were benefits for both humans and Gems, for environmentally considerate Gem production.

"Sounds great! I'm sending a set of co-ordinates to you now, meet me there. I'll have a lab built, and we can get to work."

Peridot input the co-ordinates to one of her displays. "Ah yes, of course, I'll see you... oh wait... that isn't earth."

"No." Pink confirmed. "Earth is the third planet in this system, I want you to meet me on the fourth, the unnamed red planet. Until we figure this out, I'm not depleting the earth's resources on ordinary gem production. "

"That's... very ambitious..." Peridot breathed. "Buuut, I suppose in peace time, one can afford to delay short term progress."

"Thanks Peridot. I'll see you there."

Pink dispersed the screen, and made her way back to her own Peridots, who were anxiously awaiting her. Before any of them said anything, Pink Diamond spoke up.

"I'm suspending the kindergarten." She said, bluntly.

Pink was met with a series of shrieks and gasps. "But... but... my Diamond! The soil surveys have been spectacular! Your Rose Quartzes will come out perfectly, and we're all set to begin work on the rest of your Gems! The potential for Amethyst's here is nothing short of..."

Pink lifted the palm of her hands, requesting silence. "That's an order. I don't care how the other Diamonds have done things, before me. I won't grow any more gems here, at the expense of the earth. I'm meeting Peridot Prime off world, and we're going to find a way to produce Gems, the way I was made. A way that sustains the planet, and doesn't harm the ecosystem!"

While Pink Diamond spoke, one of the Peridots, the one with gauntlets, was visibly trying to contain an outburst and, when Pink finished, she failed. "WHO CARES?" She snapped. "They're just plants!" No sooner had the words come out of her mouth, did she gasp, salute, and practically squeak, "…my Diamond..."

Pink felt a new emotion bubbling inside her, one she hadn't felt before, searing through her form. Anger. She stomped over to the Peridot, until the smaller Gem fell backwards, trying to look up at her.

"I care!" She shouted. "And I know it's not a popular cause for concern, but so do the trillions of life forms on this planet, who happen to not be Gems!"

Pink turned around, and made to stomp towards her palanquin, at the mouth of the canyon, but she had barely made it a few steps, before another Peridot timidly called after her. "M... my Diamond?"

She spun around. "What?"

"What would you like us to do about the Gems... already gestating here?"

Pink looked at the walls and sighed, she had almost forgotten about her Rose Quartzes. If they stayed, the environmental decay would only get worse, but if she pulled them out of the ground too soon, they'd emerge misshapen, mutated or corrupted. As much as she loved the earth, would she sacrifice her own people for its wellbeing? No. No, she wouldn't. Pink hoped that didn't make her a hypocrite.

"Keep an eye on them... Let me know when they emerge." She said. "But there will be no more production in this Kindergarten! Until I get back, this colony is on hold!"


	9. Science and Comedy

After her ultimatum to her Peridots, Pink had returned to her ship, to share her decision with the rest of the colony. It went about as well as she had hoped. Her Pyrites, Agates and Morganites began pleading with her to reconsider, her Gems went into uproar. Pink had explained the way Gems stood to benefit from her decision, but it seemed the consensus was that Gems needed to be in production at all times. Many compromised that the earth could be drained while research was underway, and Gems could be efficiently produced in Pink's later colonies, but Pink would not be deterred.

Leaving her Pearl to oversee the colony, from the ship, Pink had taken a small team of Bismuths, and their Pyrite captain to a drop ship, and flown to the red planet, with all of the resources they needed to build a biome which could simulate earth conditions, including a huge quantity of soil, and countless plants. On the red planet, the Bismuths built a colossal dome of glass, with a docking bay, an airlock, environmental controls and a small laboratory.

Not long after the small base was finished, Peridot Prime's ship, a large, green, right hand, appeared in the sky. Peridot had spared herself the decades-long trip to earth's solar system, by interfacing with the Galaxy Warp, and warping to earth's orbit. Pink stood in the base's docking bay, while the hand came resting, palm-up, next to the drop ship, Pink had arrived in. From the nearest finger, a Gem materialised.

At first, Pink thought it was Peridot Prime, as she looked very similar, but Pink quickly noticed two significant differences; firstly, the Gem was green, like an ordinary Peridot, and second, she had two gems, one on the back of her left hand, like Peridot Prime, and another, smooth, round Gem, in place of her left eye.

She leapt from the ship, with the handle of a large, cube-shaped container in each hand, to Pink's feet, where she dropped the containers and saluted. "Great to meet you Pink Diamond! Peridot Prime, reporting for duty!"

Pink looked bemusedly at the Gem, unsure of how to react. Before she did, the Gem continued.

"I know... I know... I've gotten a tan, since we last spoke."

Pink noticed the corner of the Gem's mouth twitching, like she was suppressing a laugh. Moments later, the real Peridot Prime, appeared on top of the ship, and raced towards the two Gems, carrying a pair of containers of her own.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Pink Diamond!" She called, as she ran. "I see you've already met my Pearl..."

The other Gem burst out in a nasal snigger and, with a glow of the Gem in her eye, transformed. Her true form was tall and slender, with short, but shaggy, emerald green hair, flailing wildly in all directions, not unlike Pink's. She wore a lime green lab coat, a much lighter shade than her skin or hair.

"She thinks she's hilarious..." Peridot explained, with a sigh.

Peridot Prime was the only Gem of her cut, who had a significant enough workload, to warrant her own Pearl. Fittingly, her Pearl was unique too, in that she had an infamous sense of humour, with little regard for tact or timing. Yellow Diamond had threatened to shatter her on three separate occasions. Fortunately, Green Pearl's unrivalled skill as a lab assistant kept her safe, and compensated for the extent to which she irritated her superiors. Ironically, Green Pearl behaved like many a Peridot, while Peridot Prime had the formality and work ethic of an average Pearl.

Pink led the pair of them to the large airlock. A door slammed behind them, and the compartment was aerated. The second set of doors opened, and the trio of Gems were bombarded with warm air, pollen, and the scent of flowers. As well as the plants, Pink had secured a generous array of earth fauna, mostly insects and small mammals, as she had come to understand the role they played in the life cycle of earth plants.

Green Pearl ran into the biome, with an excited grin, looking all around in wonder. Her eye eventually fell on a small group of butterflies, fluttering overhead.

"Hey, that looks fun!" She said.

With a gleam of her Gem, Pearl attempted to take the form of a butterfly, with the underwhelming result of her gem, the size of a human fist, lying helplessly in the dirt, while a life-size pair of butterfly wings, flapped desperately, dragging her along the ground.

"I... didn't... think... this... through!" She squeaked, through a butterfly-sized mouth.

Pink couldn't help but giggle. Peridot was clearly more acclimatised to her Pearl's shenanigans.

"Pearl, finish your work before you fool around..." She sighed.

With another gleam of light, Pearl took her natural form, save for a pair of antenna and butterfly wings. She looked away from Peridot dismissively, as though acting serious and resentful, despite her ridiculous appearance.

Pearl picked up her containers, and the three of them traversed the biome, to the adjacent laboratory, perpendicular to the landing bay. The lab was a sterile white, with plenty of flat work surfaces, and whatever lab equipment had been on board the drop ships, which wasn't much, prompting Peridot to bring her own.

Peridot and Pearl dropped their containers. Three of them opened, and expanded outwards, featuring rows upon rows of multi-coloured chemicals, and handheld processing and scanning equipment. The fourth box simply collapsed outwards, lying flat on the floor, where, with a beam of light, it conjured a tall, glass cylinder, easily large enough for Pink to stand inside of (which, as it turned out, was its function).

The three of them got to work immediately. Peridot, although excited, was nervous about performing invasive examinations on Pink's Gem, although Pink Diamond was eventually able to convince her that she didn't mind. After extensive tests, which included Pink standing in the glass cylinder and being thoroughly scanned. Peridot and Pearl began mixing and processing chemicals, working to create a mineral formula, like the kind used to make Gems, but that Peridot assured Pink, would only make non-sentient 'dummy Gems'.

After a few days (the days on the red planet were almost the same length as on earth), Peridot was prepared to inject the soil in the biome, with her prepared solution. Despite high hopes, Pink felt the drain in the plants' energy the moment the liquid was injected, and they began to wither, moments later. Although initially discouraged, the team kept up their work, and the days rolled into months.

Pink grew increasingly anxious, the longer she was away from earth. Not because she was too far away from its plants, the biome took care of that, but because she feared for her colony. Her Gems had been extremely unhappy about her decision to suspend Gem production, and that resentment was only going to stew, the longer she was away. She couldn't leave the base though, as Peridot needed constant access to her gem, for each new idea she had.

Pink thought of the other Diamonds. White and Yellow would definitely be very unhappy with her, Blue might even be, too. A small part of her mind, the part she had been programmed with, told her that Gem production was the single most important thing in the universe, but a much larger part of her said that couldn't be true, especially not if all they did was continue to expand, destroying everything in their path.

After a year on the base (almost two years on earth), Pink's Diamond Line terminal, built at the edge of the biome, began ringing. While Pink was on her way over to it, she saw Green Pearl, much closer, running over to it, with a broad grin.

With a gleam of light, she took the form of a Bismuth, and answered the call. "Hello, Homeworld Iron Refinery 193-X, how can we help you?"

The caller was Pink Pearl. She looked at Green Pearl in confusion, which quickly turned to frustration. "Pearl, I have had enough of your nonsense! Put my Diamond on the line, this instant!" This wasn't the first time Pink Pearl had called, with similar results.

Suppressing a chuckle, Pink shooed Green Pearl away and lifted up the screen to her own height. "Hi Pearl. What's up?"

"My Diamond, I'm contacting you to let you know, that your Rose Quartzes are emerging!" Pearl excitedly declared.

Pink gasped, sharing her Pearl's excitement, but with more than a twinge of regret that she wasn't there to greet them herself. Pearl stepped away from the communicator's field of vision, revealing that she was at the Prime Kindergarten. Behind her, beams of light were beginning to shine from the soil, as chunks of dirt fell away. One by one, the beams expanded, exploding from the wall like beams of metal, blasting dirt away as they did. As the beams faded, revealing a fully formed Gem, in the Gem-shaped holes they had cut out of the canyon wall.

Just as Pink had heard, Rose Quartzes were a beautiful cut. There were hundreds of them, but the only things they seemed to have in common, were their tall and thick build, and the colour of their hair. Some of them had elegant, flowing dresses, and others had more sensible trousers and shirts. Some had hair so plentiful, that it seemed to make up half of their body, while others' hair was short and spikey.

"They're so beautiful..." Pink sighed. "I wish I could be there..."

Pearl stepped back into frame. "Does that mean... you'll be coming back soon?" She asked, hopefully.

Pink sighed. She hated the look on her Pearl's face, whenever she had to answer that question, as she had to, almost whenever they spoke. "I'm sorry Pearl... Our research is making progress! We just... need a little more time..." Pink sighed again.

Pink hoped she wasn't misleading the sensitive Gem. She hadn't lied, but there was still no telling how much longer it would take. So far, they had only managed to reduce the energy input of gestating Gems, not eliminate it altogether, never mind cause them to release energy again.

"I see... my Diamond..." Pearl said, glumly. "What should I tell your Rose Quartzes?"

"Can you greet them for me? Explain what's happening. I'll work out a roster of guard details for them. We'll have them stationed at every base on the planet!"

"Y... yes, my Diamond." There was a lull. Pink Diamond was about to say goodbye, when Pearl continued. "I hope you come back soon... Morale is only decreasing, and it's getting difficult to make everyone stay patient..."

"I'll be back as soon as I can Pearl... I'm sorry..."

Pink quickly ended the call, and, with an exasperated groan, collapsed, face down, into the grass. She felt so torn. There was no way she could keep producing Gems, but if she didn't start soon, then her people might despise her forever, maybe even renounce their loyalty to her. What would that mean? Rebellion? Even if she returned briefly, to visit, that might only make things worse, for her people to see her after so long, only for her to not actually do anything.

With her face buried firmly on the grass, Pink was only slightly aware of Green Pearl, as she walked over to her, rubbing the back of her hair, nervously. Most Pearls would sing for their superiors when they were distraught, but Peridot Prime was so level headed, Pearl had never needed to, and wasn't sure she could.

"Erm... Pink Diamond...? Would you like to hear a joke?" She offered, hopefully.

Pink looked up, tears running down her face. "Sure."

Green Pearl smiled and cleared her throat. "How many Agates does it take, to change a photon relay unit?"

"I don't know, how many?" Pink asked, slightly optimistic that her mood might be improved.

With a gleam of light, Pearl took the form of an Agate, and slammed her fist into her palm. "One! Because Agates are far too efficient and important for silly humour!"

Pink smiled weakly and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time." Pearl said, sincerely, reverting to her usual form.

"Thanks Pearl... I don't know what to do." Pink replied. "If I stay here, I might lose all the Gems in my court, and never get another chance, but if I go back to earth, then all of its plants and animals will die..."

"Well... I certainly don't want that second thing to happen..." Pearl offered.

Pink looked up, quite suddenly. "You don't?"

Of course, they had been working with that objective for some time now, but Pink had figured Pearl was only there for Peridot, and Peridot was only there to improve Gem production. This was the first time she had ever heard another Gem express an interest in not killing organic life.

"Well sure!" Pearl replied. She pulled a branch down on a nearby tree, and took a deep sniff of one of its flowers. "Plants never tell me that my jokes are terrible, that I should be more serious, or that I'm an embarrassment to my cut..." She sighed.

"Plants are good in lots of ways." Pink agreed. "I just wish I could get more Gems to see that..."

"Well, for what it's worth, I've met all of the Diamonds, and it's a breath of flowery scented air, to meet one who can see a picture bigger than producing more Gems at all cost. Surely there's more to life than that?"

"Like comedy?" Pink said, suggestively.

Pearl sniggered, snorting through her nose as she tended to.

Before their conversation could continue, the communicator for Pink's Diamond line began beeping. One side of the diamond-shaped device was flashing yellow.

"Yellow?" Pink said, looking at the device.

She had been dreading this. She picked up the device again, and it projected its display once more, this time displaying Yellow Diamond, in her control room.

"Pink." She greeted her fellow diamond, her voice was dripping with anger and disapproval. "We need to talk."


	10. Still Not Giving Up

The two Diamonds saluted one another. On some small level, Pink had always been slightly scared of Yellow. Gems didn't age and, by extension, didn't believe in seniority, which meant that no one Diamond had more power or authority than another (as Blue had once told Pink, after she confided in her, her opinion on Yellow), but Pink couldn't help but feel that Yellow was wiser, and more powerful than she was.

"Word has spread across all of Gem space. Everyone is talking about... The Diamond who won't build a colony." Yellow said, with her arms folded, scowling in disapproval.

Pink made her best effort to be brave and confident. "I don't care about gossip, Yellow. Frankly, I'm surprised you do."

Yellow inhaled sharply through her nose. "Do not underestimate the importance of this, Pink! A Diamond must command authority and power to all Gems! Not just the ones in your court, who, incidentally, are talking the most! Do you know what Gemkind is saying about you?"

"I think I already said, that I don't care, Yellow!" Pink said, bluntly.

"They're saying you're apathetic, lazy and unambitious!" Yellow snapped. "And frankly, I don't know how else I would describe a leader who spends two of her only planet's years, without ever setting foot on it!"

"Unambitious..." Pink said, slowly, beginning to anger. "Do you even know what I'm doing here? I told my entire court! Did that make its way down the gossip chain?"

"It doesn't matter." Yellow said, coldly. "You have a planet full of resources, you are neglecting!"

"I'm working to ensure that the resources on that planet last!" Pink said, angrily. "Once I can find a way to ensure that other Gems gestate in the same way I did, I can grow Gems for millennia, without ever sacrificing the organic resources the Earth's ecosystem produces! I have the _ambition_ , to see the earth as an indefinite supply of Gems and resources, instead of just a short-term gain!"

"Potential resources are not as important as immediate progress!" Yellow insisted.

"You think so?"

Pink had been planning for her confrontation with Yellow for a while. She tapped the side of the display a few times, and a diagram of a complicated chemical compound appeared on Yellow's screen.

"You know what this is, Yellow?" She asked angrily.

Yellow frowned at Pink disapprovingly, lacking the emotional maturity to vocally admit that she didn't.

"It's a formula for biofuel, synthesized from the sap of the Terravore Tree. It's 120% more efficient than the fuel our Diamond Ships use. If this fuel had entered production, we could have had interstellar ships the size of Light Kites centuries ago! You know why we don't?"

Again, Yellow didn't, but didn't say so.

"Because the Terravore Tree is extinct! Because the only planet with the right conditions for growing it is..."

With some more taps on the display, Pink sent Yellow another image. This one was of a small planet, or rather, what was left of it. The entire surface was grey and lifeless, and it was cracked and broken. Massive chunks of the world had simply broken apart, and were hanging in orbit. It was as though the world had been burnt, and then crushed in some gigantic fist.

This image, Yellow did recognise. "Mine and Blue's kindergarten..." She stated, without emotion or remorse.

"You destroyed it..." Pink said, her voice filled with sorrow for the planet, and a yearning for Yellow to feel the same. "If the two of you had grown the way I did..."

"You do not represent the future of Gemkind!" Yellow interrupted, furiously. "You were made to support our expansion into uncolonised space! Not to resculpt our society on our behalf! The way you gestated was a freak accident, and I would thank you not to treat it with any more significance!"

Pink's face burnt red with frustration and anger. "How can you be so stubborn!? You'd rather stretch your court into nothingness, due to lack of resources, than update your archaic, and pointless way of doing things!"

"My... way of doing things..." Yellow cringed at Pink's lack of formality. "… gets results now! While you're daydreaming, your Gems' loyalty is fading! And when Gemkind discovers that there exists such a thing as a weak, vulnerable Diamond, it jeopardises us all!"

Pink ground her teeth, trying not to give Yellow the satisfaction of replying to her insults. "Yellow, in the nicest possible way..." She began, threatening with every syllable, to not be very nice at all. "Why don't you pay more attention to your own court and colonies, and keep your nose out of mine!?"

Pink made to end the call, but found the interface didn't respond. She jabbed at the icon angrily, but it had been locked open. Yellow leaned closer to her display, threateningly.

"Pink, listen to me very carefully. You are taking liberties that are not yours to take." Yellow said in a quiet, sinister voice. "One way or another, the Earth WILL become a colony. I suggest you return there, while you still have an opportunity to be its leader..."

With a single tap from Yellow. The call ended, and the display vanished into the diamond in Pink's hands. Pink slowly sank to her knees, with Yellow's words ringing in her ears. What did Yellow mean? Was she threatening to shatter her? To invade her colony? What could Pink do?

"Boy, she is a piece of work, am I right?"

Pink jumped slightly, having briefly forgotten that Green Pearl was there. Pink cradled her forehead and sighed. "She's so forceful... I wonder if Blue ever had this problem with her?"

Pink considered telling Blue or White about what Yellow had said, and the threatening way in which she had said it, but ultimately decided not to. They would probably think less of Pink, for not handling Yellow on her own, or worse, they might agree with Yellow, and put additional pressure on Pink.

"If it makes you feel any better, the other Diamonds don't take her as seriously as she'd like." Pearl said. "She's mostly just a lot of hot air."

That actually did make Pink feel slightly better. "Really?"

"Oh sure!" Pearl sniggered quietly. "Actually, there was this one time _everybody_ likes to talk about."

Pearl cleared her throat and lifted her hands. With a gleam of her Gem, her hands and forearms morphed into somewhat caricatured puppets of Blue and Yellow Diamond. Pink gave a surprised and delighted gasp at Pearl's outrageousness and daring.

"The war with the Endromercs is getting out of hand!" Yellow Diamond's puppet squeaked, with a less than perfect impression of her voice given by Pearl, out of the corner of her mouth. "I need to throw all of my troops at the front line, like a primate, throwing poop!"

"Uhhh, I don't think that's a good idea, Yellow!" Said Blue. "If we pull back to sector 198-17, we can regroup, and then win for sure!"

The Yellow puppet began twisting left and right, flailing her lifeless, fingerless arms. "No! No! No! Pulling back is for losers, attaaack!"

Pearl's Blue Diamond puppet morphed into a series of other Gems.

"This is obviously a really dumb idea..." Said White Diamond.

"Yellow Diamond, did I hear that order right?" Said an Agate.

"I foresee you'll get your butt kicked." A Sapphire advised.

"I'm just a dumb Ruby and even I think this plan is stupid!" A Ruby had apparently said.

Pink burst out laughing. She couldn't believe Yellow had been so stubborn and idiotic, although Pearl was obviously exaggerating to a certain degree. Pink couldn't believe Yellow had had the nerve to criticise her for her initial jitters, about ruling a colony. It occurred to her that Pearl may have been describing the military campaign, Blue had mentioned.

"So, wait... why is there no record of this on the Galaxy Net?" Pink asked, between giggles.

Pearl frowned, as though confused. She turned to her hand which was morphed into Yellow Diamond. "I dunno... Why is that, Lil Yellow?"

"Because things are only true, if there's documented proof!" Yellow Diamond said. "If I erase all evidence of my big screw up from the Galaxy Net, it'll mean I'm not such a big knuckle head!"

While Pink burst into a renewed set of giggles, Peridot walked from the lab into the biome, carrying a large syringe of their new formulae, in her hands.

"Pearl!" She shrieked, in disapproval, and concern for Pearl's safety. "Stop that immediately!"

Pearl rolled her eyes, reverted to her normal form and crossed her arms.

"I know you like pushing her buttons, but what if Yellow found out about that?" Peridot sighed. "One of these days, she won't stop at yelling at you..."

"Don't worry, Peridot, I won't tell her." Pink said, reassuringly. She nudged her shoulder. "You have to admit, it's pretty funny."

Peridot smirked, reluctantly. "I suppose Yellow can act somewhat... rashly... can't she?" She smirked, as though proud of herself for being so outspoken. "I saw the call on one of the lab screens..."

Pearl gasped dramatically, and pointed at Peridot. "Rebel spy!" She accused.

Peridot ignored her. "Despite her communication skills, or lack thereof, I suspect Pearl is right. Yellow can be stubborn and impulsive, but I doubt you need worry about any threat you might have perceived."

Pink smiled, grateful for the condolence from the two Gems. "Thanks guys."

It certainly seemed to Pink, though, that the lesson from Pearl's story was more serious than the comedian Gem had made it seem. Pink's takeaway was that Yellow often acted on her base emotions, and favored immediate results, over long-term planning (something she had recently learnt, first-hand). Pink was convinced, more than ever, that if Yellow was tempted to intervene in Pink's colony, then there was little chance of her restraining herself.


	11. Gem War: The Prequel

There was a small clearing, nestled in a mountain range, on earth, which was known for miles around, by humans and Gems alike. Word had begun to spread, one day, when a small tribe of humans had made their way to the clearing, after a troop of Gems had uprooted them from their home. Due to the formation of the mountains, there was only one route a human could reasonably take, to reach the center. The clearing was a breathtaking sight, a crystal-clear river ran through its heart, amidst a thriving orchard of apple trees.

It barely required saying, that the tribe had found their new home... or so they thought. They had barely fanned out to inspect the area, or partake of the gorgeous, red apples, hanging overhead, when they were attacked. Whatever it was, moved too quickly to keep track of, like a blur of green and pink, but it dropped from the trees, and struck at the strongest members of the tribe, bringing them to their knees with blows to the back of their legs, and snapping their spears with swift punches, before vanishing back into the foliage.

The tribe valiantly tried to defend themselves, fighting for the chance to live in such a resourceful and defendable area, but they were overwhelmed. They weren't even sure if they were being attacked by one, incredibly fast creature or many, but it (or they) assaulted them relentlessly, getting increasingly aggressive, without seriously wounding any of them, until the tribe gave up and retreated.

After that, word had begun to spread, that the clearing was cursed, and the home of a demon. Many humans accepted this and steered clear, while others, feeling they had a point to prove, would journey to the clearing to prove they were unafraid, either being fought off or, in the case of the most stubborn adventurers, never returning.

Eventually, a small group of Peridots journeyed to the area just beyond the mountain range, to take soil surveys, for future kindergartens. While they were working, a small group of human children had inquisitively come over to them and engaged them in conversation, and the gentle-hearted Peridots had obliged. They had learnt of the urban legend, and word had begun to spread around the Gems, stationed in the area, although they took it far less seriously, of course.

It was several days after Pink Diamond's confrontation with Yellow, on the red planet, when a small Gem ship came landing in the clearing. It was one of the more aerodynamic, vehicular-shaped vessels, unlike the hand ships, which mostly travelled in the vacuum of space. This one had wings, a glass windshield and thrusters. Despite being one of the smaller Gem crafts, it could easily fit several dozen Gems.

A loading bay lowered gently, and a team of Gems emerged. The first to emerge, were several Rubies, tiny, red Gems, barely two feet tall, and with bulky, square, hairstyles. They came leaping from the ship, as soon as it opened, rolling acrobatically, and striking overly dramatic poses. More Rubies followed, far more casually, and finally, a small group who seemed nervous, and unwilling to leave the ship. There were around twenty Rubies in total.

There were also ten Bismuths, unlike the Rubies, they seemed to have much more consistent personalities. They mostly seemed casual, relaxed and looking forward to working. Their skin was various shades of grey and purple, and their forms all incorporated rainbow colours, either in their hair, or in spiraling tattoos or vibrantly-coloured aprons.

Finally, leading the group, just behind the most enthusiastic Rubies, were three Rose Quartzes. One had loose-fitting trousers and a tank top, with her flowing, pink hair, pulled into a ponytail, and a gem in her left palm, the second wore a long skirt and jacket, had short hair, and a gem on her right palm, and the last wore an elegant, flowing ball gown, hair that cascaded down her back, like water, and a gem at the base of her neck.

One of the last Gems to leave the ship, was one of the more timid Rubies. "W... wait!" She called after them. "S... so we're just going out there? Aren't there monsters in this sector?"

One of the Bismuths was the first to reply. "That's right. There's an earth animal in this area, which eats gems!" She plucked an apple from a nearby tree. "Just like this!" She ravenously took a bite from the apple, prompting a stunned shriek from the Ruby.

With a disapproving frown, the Rose Quartz with the ponytail stormed over to the Bismuth. With a clenching of the hand which housed her gem, the handle of a large mallet materialised in it, with which she angrily struck the side of the Bismuth's head, knocking her clean off her feet. "Don't tease her!" She ordered.

The Rose Quartz with the skirt and jacket went back to the ship, and crouched down to the Ruby's eye level. "The rumours about a monster in this area came from the humans who live around here." She explained. "Humans are a developing species, who still don't know much about their own world, so they make up a lot of stuff, to make themselves feel better."

"This 'monster' was probably just a Gem scout who was slacking off, and started messing with them." The third Rose Quartz explained, from the front of the group.

While the Rose at the ship coaxed the Ruby out, the one with the ponytail helped up the Bismuth she had struck, still frowning at her.

"S... sorry, your clarity." The Bismuth said, saluting.

The group journeyed away from the ship, and towards the center of the orchard. Unbeknownst to them, a figure pursued them from the canopy above, leaping silently from branch to branch, eagerly listening in on every word.

"So... what are we doing here again?" Asked one of the Rubies in the middle of the group.

"We're here to lay down the foundation for a new spire." Said the Rose Quartz in the dress, without a hint of impatience at the forgetful Ruby.

"So, we're finally building the colony again?" Another Ruby gleefully asked.

"Yeah, been wondering that, myself..." A Bismuth asked, in a gruff voice. "Pretty sure Pink Diamond said the colony was on hold."

"Well, we have new orders." Said the Rose Quartz with the ponytail. "Not to brag, but I imagine the arrival of Pink Diamond's first Gems motivated her into action."

"So, she's back?" A Ruby squeaked, excitedly. "Oooh! I hope I get to meet her! I hear she's awfully pretty!"

"These orders came from Pink Diamond's control room, so... probably..." The Rose Quartz in the dress was carrying herself like a leader, and neither of the other Roses seemed inclined to challenge her. The group looked at her, to elaborate. She sighed. "No one's seen Pink, that I know of, and the orders came in text format, so I don't know who issued them. All I know is they're legit, with supreme authority. Either Pink Diamond relayed them through her control room, from the red planet, or..." She trailed off, reluctant to say the alternative out loud, for fear of it being true.

"Or what?" One of the Rubies asked.

"Let's get to work." Rose evaded. "Let's start by clearing these trees. Don't forget, these things root into the ground, so make sure you get all of it."

One of the Bismuths approached the nearest tree, and her hand morphed into an axe. She was about to swing, when, with a rustle of leaves, the Gems' pursuer dropped between the Bismuth and the tree and lunged forwards, stopping immediately in front of the Gem. "I don't think so..." She snarled.

The Bismuth's form exploded and, after the smoke cleared, the Gems got a good look at their attacker. Most of them were unsure if it was a human or a Gem. Many of them had seen several humans, but none with coarse, green skin, nor with menacing thorns emerging from their wrists, the likes of which this one had used to attack the Bismuth. Her long, matted hair was a dark pink, and dotted with leaves and flowers. Her eyes were yellow with cat-like slits for pupils. She caught the spiraling Bismuth gem as it fell, and dropped it into a bag made of furs, slung over her shoulder.

"Everyone stand back!" The Leader Rose warned. "Rubies, form up! X-16, M-37, with me!"

With a lot of scrambling, syncronised gasps of effort as they marched towards each other, and a bright gleam of light, the twenty Rubies became four Ruby fusions. They and the Bismuths gathered around the attacker, in a wide circle, as the Rose Quartzes surrounded her.

The leader summoned a slender sword from her gem, and lunged, but the so-called demon parried the blade with her thorns. Rose's sword was sharp enough to cleave boulders, effortlessly, but the demon and her weapons were unscratched. The pair circled each other, lunging, slashing and parrying. The Rubies gasped in awe of the breathtaking display of speed and skill. Neither combatant was able to land a damaging blow.

The Rose with the ponytail summoned her hammer and lunged at the demon, screaming dramatically. Without even needing to turn around, the demon leapt upwards, span around in the air, and landed on the other side of the Rose with the sword. Before the Rose could turn around, the demon tackled her in the back, sending her flying forwards, and her sword plunging into the reckless Rose's torso, disrupting her instantly.

Dispersing her sword, the leader turned around and attempted to physically wrestle the creature into submission. She succeeded in wrapping an arm around her neck, and holding one of her arms, and its dangerous thorn out of harm's way.

"M-37, now!" The Rose ordered.

The third Rose projected a series of flat, metal disks from the gem in her hand, each with menacing-looking spikes lining the outside, and took hold of them. With a flourish, she hurled the disks at the demon, while the other Rose had her restrained.

With a swing of her legs, the green demon flipped upwards and onto her captor's shoulders, just in time for the latter to be impaled by her ally's throwing stars. Before the Rose's form exploded, the demon leapt through the air, like a bird of prey, and landed on the last Rose, pinning her to the ground and impaling her on her thorns.

With the leaders dispersed, the remaining Gems lost their co-ordination. While the Bismuths were still considering their actions, the Ruby fusions charged forwards, screaming, and flailing their fists in the air. The demon flew at the nearest, and struck with her thorns and, with five more quick jabs, dispersed all five Rubies before they hit the ground.

Before the nearby Bismuths could attack, the demon shot upwards, and vanished into the canopy. The remaining Gems slowly gravitated towards one another. Every few seconds, there was a flash of green and a burst of white smoke, and another Bismuth or Ruby fusion was gone. As they gathered together, one of the two remaining Rubies began looking around, anxiously, muttering to herself, and, eventually, separating. Sending five individual Rubies, flying in all directions.

"This is crazy!" One of them said, clearly the one who had disrupted the fusion. "We need to call for backup or something!"

"We'd be shattered!" A Bismuth countered. "A whole platoon getting wiped out by a single human? It's unacceptable..."

"Ain't no humans I've seen, with green skin and thorns..." Another Bismuth disagreed.

The demon continued its stealthy attacks, picking off the Gems, one by one, and salvaging their gems, in her sack. She was especially ruthless when the Gems attempted to escape to their ship. Ultimately, the only Gem left, was one of the larger Bismuths. She stood, with her hands in the form of protective shields. She jumped in alarm, when the demon dropped from the trees and started walking towards her.

"Who are you?" The Bismuth demanded. "What do you want!?"

"I'm Tayko..." The demon replied. "And I want you to deliver a message."

"What message?"

"This right here..." She pointed at the ground. "Is Pink Diamond's colony... and word is, Pink suspended all construction." Tayko threateningly informed the Gem, made for construction.

"There's new orders... Pink's back..." The Bismuth said the second sentence with much less certainty.

Tayko cocked an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

Before the Bismuth could answer, Tayko shot forwards and thrusted with her thorns. The Bismuth lifted her shields, but Tayko pierced through them like they were made of snow, and continued into Bismuth's abdomen.

"The next time someone besides Pink decides to build here, I'll track them down in person, and I won't stop at dispersing them..." Tayko quickly, but threateningly said.

As the last Bismuth exploded, Tayko sincerely hoped her hunch was right, otherwise she had just inconvenienced Pink, harassed a bunch of innocent Gems, and made herself look like an idiot, to boot. She was about to take her sack of gems out of the clearing, to somewhere quiet, where they could reform, when she felt a sudden, powerful feeling, in her gut.

It was a feeling she had felt a long time ago, when she was growing her orchard and was just beginning to mutate, before her skin changed colour, and when she still had most of her black hair. It was indescribable, but the closest comparison would have been the feeling of a loved one being in pain, and feeling the pain on their behalf. The sensation had guided her, telling her at the back of her mind where to go, until she discovered what she ultimately found to be called a kindergarten.

Between eavesdropping on the green Gems that were milling around, kidnapping and interrogating one, and even aggressively dismantling one of the spider-like machines, Tayko had learnt that most Gems were made by draining the life from the planet, and that Pink was an unprecedented anomaly. Tayko realised the sensation she felt had been the earth's pain. When she found out that Pink had ceased production on the colony and vanished, Tayko instantly knew what she was doing.

Even though Tayko had mutated further and become more sensitive since then, she could tell that this instance was much worse, although unmistakably the same thing. The Kindergarten was back... bigger and worse than ever.


	12. Pink vs Yellow: Part One

"Pearl! Pearls... calm down! One of you tell me what's happening!"

A few days after her fight with Yellow, the Diamond line on the red planet's base had activated again. Pink had answered, to find, to her great surprise, Yellow and Pink Pearl, fighting over the controls, and bickering about something to do with orders, and treachery.

"Yellow Pearl! Step away from the controls, this instant!" Pink snapped, after a few moments of trying to make peace.

Yellow Pearl froze in place, no longer actively fighting Pink Pearl, but notably not stepping away, either. Seeing her chance, Pink Pearl shoved her aside with both hands, sending her flying out of the display.

"My Diamond!" She hastily said. "Yellow Diamond is back! She's seizing control!"

"You traitor!" Yellow Pearl shrieked, leaning back into the communicator's view. "You were directly ordered, by Yellow Diamond, to keep your trap shut!"

"I do _not_ belong to Yellow Diamond, and this is _not_ her colony!"

"How dare you question the orders of the most magnificent, luminous..."

"Yellow Pearl, shut up, and get out of my control room, before I call an Agate!" Pink all but snarled at Yellow Pearl.

Inhaling sharply through her nose, Pearl very reluctantly walked away from Pink Pearl's work station. It was clear that Pink and Yellow Diamond's orders had contradicted one another.

"Pearl, what do you mean she's seizing control?" Pink fearfully asked.

"She just showed up with hundreds of her Topaz soldiers. They're overseeing construction, wherever crews are reluctant to work without a direct order from you."

Pink was glad that her Gems were still loyal to her, and still following the controversial order she had given, two years ago.

"Your Rose Quartzes and Agates could feasibly repel her forces... with your permission..." Pearl hesitantly proposed. She knew the potential consequences, if there was the slightest hint of violence between the two Diamonds' forces.

"No." Pink Declined. "Re-issue the order. In fact, take a recording." Pink cleared her throat. "My previous orders are still in effect. This colony will not be built until such a time as it can be done so effectively! Any construction on this planet, is undertaken directly against MY supreme authority." Pink relaxed. "Okay Pearl, try and keep things under wraps, I'm on my way."

Closing the display, Pink saw Peridot Prime and Green Pearl, watching her intently. Pearl had been socialising with the biome's rabbit population, to the reluctant amusement of Peridot, and was sitting on her superior's shoulder, while real rabbits playfully, and obliviously rolled in her lap.

"I have to take care of this..." She said, resignedly. "Can you make any progress without me?"

Peridot shooed the rabbit away and stood up. Pearl resumed her natural form. "Well, I could review the information we've gathered already... attempt to recombine the formulae to more effectively..."

"No..." Pearl glumly interrupted, helping Peridot to her point.

A tear welled up in the corner of Pink's eye. "I don't know if I'll be able to come back..."

"Well..." Peridot sighed, crestfallen beyond reason. "We gave it our best shot."

"If all else fails, we could always preserve organic life by shattering every Gem in the universe?" Pearl proposed.

Pink and Peridot gave her identical looks, saying the same thing, with their eyes.

"Timing?" Pearl guessed.

"Is there anything we can do?" Peridot offered. "Should we stay here... just in case?"

"No..." Pink sighed. Ironically, Yellow had been right. Pink needed to stay with her colony, if only to protect it from her. "But before you leave, contact White Diamond. Make sure she knows what Yellow's doing."

"And... what are you going to do?" Pearl asked, sounding afraid of the answer.

Pink walked towards the airlock, and the hanger. "I'm going to stop her."

-x-x-x-

Pink's drop ship zoomed over the earth's landscape. Pink needed to get Yellow's forces out of her colony, and that meant getting Yellow Diamond out of her colony. Pink had an idea of where Yellow would be, and even if she wasn't, Pink had to make sure Yellow hadn't done the unthinkable. If Yellow really wanted to make a point to Pink, she would restart the kindergarten, but surely she wouldn't dare.

Pink's ship dropped down in the canyon, and she stared through the windscreen, open-mouthed, with tears in her eyes, at what she saw. Injectors were swarming over every inch of the canyon walls. Pink raced from her ship, and into the kindergarten. The sky above was cloudy and grey, and the distant rumble of thunder seemed to foreshadow the conflict that loomed.

Not far from her ship, a small team of Topazes stood at a mobile work station, controlling the injectors remotely. Topazes were a stocky cut, built like boulders, and whose appearance always featured lots of rigid straight lines, much like the Diamond with which they were associated. When they saw Pink storming towards them, with pure fury in her eyes, several of them stepped away from the controls, and lifted their hands, in surrender.

Far from accepting their surrender, Pink screamed furiously, and a bolt of lightning illuminated her livid features. A dozen thorny vines erupted out of the ground at their feet and ensnared the Gems, constricting them until, one by one, their forms disrupted, and their flat, disk-like gems fell to the ground.

One Topaz remained, scrambling backwards, after tripping on a root, as Pink towered over her, blotting out the cloudy sky.

"Pick up your friends... and get back to your ship..." Pink ordered, in a terrifying whisper.

The Topaz nodded enthusiastically and began scrambling for her ally's gems.

"And if I ever see any of you in my colony again, I will SHATTER YOU ALL!" She screamed.

As the Topaz ran, the injectors, bereft of input, began to either remain stationary, standing on the canyon walls, or collapse to the ground, where they imbedded themselves in the soil, or broke apart on sturdy rocks. Pink wanted to think her threat was a bluff, but the sheer fury coursing through her form made her uncertain of her own potential.

"YELLOOOW!" Pink screamed at the top of her voice.

She stormed through the canyon. The wounded ecosystem, left by the Rose Quartzes was still there. The river still ran, and sparse blades of grass and withered trees were still sprouting periodically, but now, there were thousands of Gems gestating all around her. It could be a matter of days, before this area was a lifeless husk.

"YELLOW! GET THE HELL OUT HERE!" Pink emphasised.

Yellow would have to be here. She would need to deliver her point to Pink in person. If not now, then when her Topaz informed her she was here. Pink continued storming through the valley, screaming Yellow's name, when a lone figure dropped from the top of the canyon, landing nimbly on the side of an injector, imbedded in the wall at Pink's eye level.

"I assume, since you're screaming the name of another Diamond, that you had nothing to do with this?" She said.

Pink looked around. Some of her fury turned to surprise, and then astonishment. At first, she wasn't sure who or what the individual was. Her green skin and pink hair defied her species' identification, but, upon looking at her face, it soon clicked.

"Tayko!?" Pink gasped, while rage and astonishment fought for her attention. "Is that you!?"

"Hey Pink. Long time no see." Tayko said, playing it much cooler than her friend.

"Yeah! Like, five human lifetimes!" Pink pointed out. "I thought you were dead! How... how are you not dead?"

Tayko laughed. "Something in those apples, I guess... But that's not important. I know what's happening here."

Pink frowned. "Tayko... I'm sorry... I said this colony would be a good thing for humans and Gems, but..."

"It's okay, Pink! It's not too late to fix this!" Tayko insisted.

"It is!" Pink said, tears running down her face. "The physical gems begin to form the second the ground is injected!"

"But we can pull them out, before they kill this area!" Tayko countered.

"No Tayko... If we do that, they'll still form, but they'll be corrupted, mutated, in horrible pain!"

Tayko slowly began to understand Pink's dilemma. "You have to put your people first..."

Pink collapsed to her knees, as it slowly began to rain. "I'm sorry Tayko! I'm so sorry!" She wept. "I said this colony could be a good thing! I heard how the other Gems spoke, I saw Homeworld! But I didn't want to believe it!"

Tayko dropped to the ground, and went to rest a reassuring hand on Pink's knee. She was conflicted too. Tayko had also hoped that humans and Gems could coexist, but it sounded like Pink was stuck in the middle, and would have to choose Gems over humans. Tayko could hardly blame her, she doubted she'd do any differently. Nevertheless, where did that leave them?

"Tayko, what can I do?" Pink sobbed, rhetorically. "What can I do...?"

With the drizzle of rain escalating to a downpour, neither Tayko nor Pink noticed the approaching footsteps, or that they weren't alone in the canyon, until a sneering voice cut through the sound of the rain. "Pathetic!"

The duo looked up, to see Yellow Diamond standing commandingly, with the rain cascading off her. She scowled furiously at Pink.

"Just look at yourself, Pink! Kneeling in the mud, weeping for the forgiveness and approval of a filthy earth animal! You're a disgrace to your cut!"

Pink climbed to her feet, and began marching towards her fellow Diamond, furiously.

"How dare you!?" She bellowed, over the increasing rumble of thunder. "How do you have the nerve to invade another Diamond's territory, and exploit her resources!?"

"How? Simple." Yellow replied, sounding coy, yet still angry and disappointed. "I... am a leader! I see something Gemkind needs, and I take it! Just as you were supposed to do, as you were _made_ to do!"

"Yellow, in case you're too dense to have figured this out, I don't give a speck of mud what you and the other Diamonds expected of me! I am my own Gem, with my own plans and new ideas! I'm not an irrelevant relic like you!"

Yellow leaned closer to Pink, menacingly. "I am a relic because I endure! Because I do what's needed for the survival of me and my Gems! That's why I'll live to see the end of the universe... and why you won't last a millennium. By letting me walk in here, and have my way, you've proven to the entire universe that you're nothing but a pushover!"

Pink felt close to exploding. Her fists were clenched, and she was considering all of the best ways to ensnare and disrupt Yellow, with thorny vines. She wondered if Diamonds could be shattered, just by stamping on them. "Yellow... I think you should get the hell out of my colony, and never come back..."

Yellow laughed cruelly. "And what will you do if I don't?"

Another bolt of lightning highlighted Pink's furious expression. "You wanna find out?"

Yellow only laughed harder. "As amusing as that would be, I think I'll follow your example and bide my time. If I shattered you in self-defense now, it might not go so well with White and Blue." She began walking away from Pink, through the canyon. "I'll wait for them to realise what I already have, about how much of a screw up you are."

As Yellow walked away, she looked down at Tayko and cringed. With a smirk, that Pink didn't see, behind her, Yellow lifted her foot, as if to stamp on the mutated human.

"NO!" Pink shrieked.

With lightning reflexes, Pink thrust her arm upwards, and a colossal cluster of swirling wood burst out of the ground, ramming into Yellow like an out-of-control spaceship. The older Diamond was knocked off her feet and high into the air, before she fell, on her back, into the mud, where she slid head-first into an opposite canyon wall.

Before she moved, Yellow Diamond began laughing, under her breath. She sat up, with a wicked grin on her face. Bolts of electricity crackled from her fingertips, up her arms and across her body. Her eyes glowed a sinister white.

"Well... That makes things simple..."


	13. Pink vs Yellow: Part Two

With an ear-shattering crash of thunder, the kindergarten filled with an explosion of lightning that sent Pink soaring out of the canyon, and crashing onto the higher ground, beyond, rattled and stunned, but with her gem unharmed. Looking up, fearfully, Pink saw Yellow shoot out of the canyon and high into the air. Yellow reached upwards and, with a swing of her arm, cast a bolt of lightning from the storm clouds above, at the smaller Diamond.

The explosion of light and smoke obscured Pink from sight. Yellow landed in the sparse forest beyond the kindergarten, and waited for the smoke to clear. When it did, she saw Pink huddling in a protective sphere of dense foliage, which was scarred, blackened, and partially aflame, but intact.

"A leader has to be powerful, Pink!" Yellow goaded, as she walked towards her. "If you can't defeat me, then what right do you have to continue the legacy of the Great Diamond Authority?"

"There's more to being a leader than wielding power, Yellow!" Pink spat.

Yellow made to grab Pink's arm, and pull her from her cocoon, but Pink surprised her by thrusting her hand out first, and grabbing Yellow. As Pink pulled her hand down, Yellow was ensnared by a series of tendrils that burst out of the ground, impaling her arm on wicked thorns.

"I am resourceful... resilient... intelligent!" She countered.

While she spoke, Pink leapt over Yellow's head, and kicked her in the back while pulling on her free hand and, before Yellow could overpower her, another group of thorny tendrils secured her other arm. The foliage constricted, pulling Yellow's arms to the ground, and forcing her to her knees.

Far from looking distressed, or fearful, Yellow smirked. "What now Pink? Are you going to shatter me? I had every intention of shattering you, you know."

"Well I'm not you..." Pink said, proudly, crossing her arms. "I told the other Diamonds of your invasion, and I'll tell them about this too, we'll all decide what to do with you."

"That's your problem, Pink." Yellow sneered. "You'll always feel like you can fall back on White and Blue, because you're weak. You'd rather hope White shatters me, than do it yourself. I've got news for you Pink, this isn't White's colony, it isn't Blue's and it isn't mine. You have to deal with invaders yourself, and decide their fate, but you'll never have that kind of strength... If you tried to do what I did on one of my colonies, you'd be dust before you touched the surface!"

"Tough talk, from someone who was beaten by someone who's never been in a fight before..." Pink said, trying to sound confident, but Yellow's utter lack of concern was making her nervous.

Yellow laughed a quiet, terrifying laugh. "If you get another chance to shatter me... I suggest you take it. But don't worry... You won't."

Before Pink could respond, lightning surged from Yellow's hands, down the foliage and into the ground. Yellow was obscured in another explosion, which sent dirt and smoke flying in all directions, prompting Pink to shield her face. Before Pink recovered, Yellow leapt at her and, with arcs of electricity crackling from her fist, delivered a resounding punch to her torso. Pink Leapt to the side, and as she rolled across the dirt, plant life coated her arms and chest like a suit of armour, with thorns like gigantic blades.

Yellow cast bolt after bolt of lightning from her arms, which Pink did her best to evade. Occasionally, Yellow would land a hit, and some of Pink's armour would burn away, but she didn't have any openings large enough to grow more.

After a particularly violent outburst of electricity, Pink saw such an opening. Transferring her protective plants to her hand, Pink lunged at Yellow, and slammed her palm on the other Diamond's gem. The vines ensnared Yellow, and began to restrict, the vicious thorns tore into Yellow's form, and she began to flicker.

While Pink focused on commanding her plants, she didn't notice the spots of light, glowing through the storm clouds above her, like tiny suns. All at once, a barrage of laser fire fell upon Pink, from a small fleet of attack robonoids, large drones, with wings and laser cannons, built to storm enemy fortresses on hostile planets.

Pink leapt backwards and lifted her forearms, manifesting a sturdy, wooden shield from the ground. The vines restricting Yellow relaxed, just short of disrupting her. As Yellow rose to her feet and advanced, Tayko climbed out of the kindergarten, and onto the flat ground on which the Diamonds were fighting. She looked up at the robonoids, lowering towards the spot at which they were firing, where she guessed Pink was sheltering behind a sheet of wood. It seemed like Pink was at a disadvantage, and needed all the help she could get.

Tayko ran towards the nearest robonoid and mentally prepared herself, breathing in and out, rapidly. Having mostly used her mutant powers to fight unprepared Gem soldiers, she hadn't had much opportunity to test her powers' limits, but she was about to. Tayko leapt high into the air, flailing her arms as she soared helplessly above the nearest drone, and tried to guide herself down towards it. She fell gracelessly onto its wing and rolled, just managing to hang on with one hand, before she fell over the edge. Below her, she saw Yellow Diamond, adding to the bombardment Pink was receiving, with her lightning powers.

Tayko quickly heaved herself up onto the robonoid's back and ran to its center. She reached as far as she could down the wing on each side, and grabbed the edge, about a third of the way down each's length. Grunting and groaning at first, and then screaming in physical exertion, Tayko slowly bent the wings inwards. The drone began to sway through the air helplessly, and Tayko shifted her weight, guiding its laser fire in the direction of its fellow drones. One by one, Tayko used the Robonoid she had mounted, to destroy its partners, and by the time Yellow Diamond turned around, in response to the laser fire slowly dwindling, Tayko had it firing upon her.

No sooner had Yellow's bombardment on Pink ended, than Pink pulled her seared and broken wooden shield from the ground, and slammed it against Yellow's head in her distraction. Yellow flew from her feet, and splayed in the ground. With a hasty gesture from the floored Diamond, Tayko's captive drone immediately ceased firing on her, and fell to earth, with Tayko leaping clear of the subsequent explosion.

"You know Pink... Diamonds very rarely fight their own battles, and until now, they've never fought each other..." Yellow said, crawling backwards, as Pink advanced, clenching her fists.

"What's your point?" Pink snarled.

Yellow smirked triumphantly. "My point is... no Diamond truly knows what any other is capable of..." Yellow pointed the palm of her hand at Pink and a searing light shone from it, forcing Pink to squeeze her eyes shut and cry out in pain. Before Pink could see again, Yellow shot to her feet, grabbed Pink's neck and lifted her cleanly off the ground. "… But I'd hazard to guess that your powers only work when you're in contact with this disgusting planet!"

Pink struggled, pointing her toes downwards, but the taller Diamond kept the ground out of her reach.

"You're wrong..." Pink croaked.

She slammed her knee into Yellow's gem, forcing her to double over just enough. The second Pink's toe touched the ground, a vine ensnared her and held her down securely. Pink delivered a brutal uppercut with her bare fist, which send Yellow stumbling backwards.

"THIS PLANET _IS_ MY POWER!"

With a series of gestures, Pink had thorny vines leap out of the ground at Yellow, like snakes. Yellow defensively deflected with minimalistic sparks of lightning, but Pink attacked too quickly to allow her to manifest enough power to retaliate. As Yellow backed away from Pink, Tayko sprinted towards the two combating titans, aware of how she could help. The mutated human slashed, with her thorns, at the bark of a tall, thin tree, like a feral animal, in such a way that it fell immediately into Yellow's path with a resounding crash.

Unable to turn around, to investigate the source of the noise, Yellow tripped, and fell backwards, into the mud. Silhouetted by another bolt of lightning, Pink lunged for Yellow's gem, and began to pull. Yellow resisted, but her strength faded and her form flickered as Pink pulled. With the last of her strength, Yellow thrusted upwards, and Pink was blasted clear of her, with a burst of lightning.

Hyperventilating, and exhausted, the two Diamonds rose to their feet slowly, looking at each other with pure hatred. Yellow clenched her fist and it visibly glowed with lightning. Pink did the same, and a network of vines crawled towards her hand, ending with a thorn the size of her forearm. With an enraged scream from Pink, the pair lunged at each other with the intent to shatter, but moments before they made contact, they both froze in place, suspended in the air, as an enormous column of light shone down on each of them.

Craning their necks, Pink and Yellow saw the storm clouds parting, and White and Blue Diamond's ships descending on them. Blue Diamond's ship was shining a beam of light which had suspended Pink, and White had secured Yellow. Pink swallowed nervously. There were many ways this could be bad.


	14. The Ultimatum

**I don't normally like to do this, but I'm gonna start juggling stories, since I had a great idea for a new one, but I'll try to alternate chapters between the two, so as not to play favourites. So updates might slow down a bit, but if you need something to tide you over, check out my new story! It's an AU in which Pearl has a half-human baby!**

* * *

Pink had been teleported onto Blue's ship, where she had immediately been embraced by Blue Diamond. Blue had been withholding of the details of what she and White Diamond thought of the fight, and who was at fault, and what was going to happen. She said she would save the details for when they were all together. All she would say, was that her ship was en route to Homeworld, where all four Diamonds would convene, in person, for the first time.

Apparently, Blue and White Diamond's Sapphires had alerted them to an increasingly probable future, just before Peridot Prime had made contact with White. The prediction entailed Pink and Yellow Diamond, fighting with every fiber of their being, intending to shatter one another, and ultimately, one of them succeeding. Pink was able to persuade Blue to share that much of her Sapphires' prediction, but Blue and White had collectively agreed it best not to disclose who the winner of the fight was going to be.

Homeworld was even worse than Pink remembered. Although it looked the same, Pink, in her heightened, emotionally vulnerable state, was especially aware of the total absence of plant life. In her head, she fantasised about a life in which she had been made on earth, and then left to her own devices, without the pressures of being a Gem Matriarch, the threat of invasion, and the consequences of protecting her colony against said invaders.

As Blue Diamond's ship soared over the sprawling metropolis that was Homeworld, it honed in on a clear focal point. All the pathways, vehicle tracks, and resource and power lines they flew over seemed to lead to and from one place, a gigantic temple, the size of a mountain, carved out of dull, grey stone, in the image of White Diamond, from her shoulders up.

Cradled in the temple's hands, was a vast landing platform, easily large enough for all four Diamond ships. After Blue and White's ships landed, the four Diamonds made their way inside, in relative silence. The room the group made their way to was a vast one, at the heart of the temple. It was perfectly circular, and almost half of the floor was taken up by an enormous conference table. The ceiling of the room was a breath-taking observatory, depicting all of the solar systems currently occupied by Gems. Pink spotted the earth and let out a sigh.

The Diamonds spaced out around the table, White and Blue Pearl were already standing at small work stations, atop the table in front of their respective Diamonds. Pink regretfully noticed that the Pearl White Diamond had brought wasn't the Primary Pearl Pink had befriended. Rather than transparent ruffles, this Pearl wore an opaque, white dress. It was probably for the best, that Pink's friend wasn't here, it wasn't as though Pearl could speak up for her. After the Diamonds had taken their places, three sets of eyes slowly made their way over to White.

"The Great Diamond Authority... is not a democracy, nor is it a hierarchy..." White Diamond eventually said.

Around the room, most of the Diamonds seemed distressed in some way or another. Yellow Diamond looked irritated, Blue looked concerned, and Pink was afraid. White Diamond, on the other hand, didn't display the faintest hint of emotion. She looked around the room with the same cold indifference she would display, when selecting the colour scheme for a new fleet of ships. She sounded like she had planned the words she was saying, in advance.

"We have been fortunate, in these past millennia, that we have been able to govern our individual jurisdictions seperately, without disagreement, or conflict. However, we were always aware that bringing new Diamonds into the universe, presented the risk of bringing that conflict upon us."

Yellow and Blue Diamond looked over to Pink, briefly. Pink's anxiety was making her head spin. What did that mean? Did White Diamond regret creating her? Had they gathered to decide if Pink should be shattered?

As if she had read Pink's mind, White continued. "Nevertheless, the creation of more Diamonds was, and still is a necessity, as Gem jurisdiction expands across the stars, and we are spread thinner. If we can no longer exist peacefully, and if the threat of Diamonds shattering one another persists... Then changes must be made."

White Diamond paused, to allow her words to settle in. Pink was no calmer. Although reassured that she wasn't going to be shattered, White Diamond's mention of 'changes' felt ominous.

White sighed. "With regret, I suggest that I be allowed power to mediate over disagreements between Diamonds, and to enforce means of preventing conflict."

The silence that followed was deafening. The pros and cons of White Diamond's suggestion were apparent, and the decision was difficult. The two Pearls looked around, at the Diamonds, nervously, realising that they were witnessing history in action.

Eventually, Blue Diamond turned to the centre of the table and saluted. "Agreed."

Yellow Diamond sighed, and did the same. "Agreed."

All eyes turned to Pink. On the one hand, she would be grateful if White made Yellow keep out of her colony, but what if White didn't? What if White agreed with Yellow, and made Pink destroy the earth, by completing the colony? She knew White was practical and methodical. Surely, she would be more than enthusiastic to be able to produce Gems more efficiently, but would she permit Pink to continue to suspend her colony while she worked on it?

As little as she liked to admit it to herself, Pink's deciding factor was fear of what would happen if she disagreed, and stood against all three of her fellow Diamonds. She reluctantly saluted the center of the table. "Agreed..."

White maintained her robotic lack of emotion, even after gaining her new power. "Well then, as my first decree: Yellow." White looked at her, the other two Diamonds followed suit. "You are hence forth forbidden from entering any solar system under Pink's control, without her express invitation, as are any and all Gems, operating under your orders."

Yellow scowled subtly, while Pink sighed in relief.

"That being said," White continued, "Yellow, please explain the purpose of your occupation on Earth."

Yellow cleared her throat. "As I'm sure we're all aware, Pink Diamond suspended the construction of her first colony several months ago, two years, in her own planet's time."

"That's because...!" Pink made to angrily interrupt, but she quickly felt Blue Diamond's hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Pink saw the taller Diamond shake her head, subtly, but urgently.

Yellow frowned at Pink disapprovingly, and continued. "Regardless of her reasoning, Pink's apathy is extremely hazardous! While her own Gems sit idle, without orders, they are free to think whatever they want of their Diamond, sowing the seeds of insubordination, and even rebellion! And when the rest of our Gems hear of a planet on which Gems are without orders or responsibilities, it makes them resent us! Pink's negligence hurts us all!"

Pink was seething, the other Diamonds could see her biting her bottom lip, but she held her tongue. Blue remained at her side, reassuringly squeezing her hand, beneath the table.

White Diamond nodded silently at Yellow's reasoning. "Pink, I believe you were about to explain your supposed lack of activity."

Pink took a deep breath, and thought about how to best explain her position. "I won't lie..." Pink began. "I have an irrational fondness for the organic life, on the planet Earth, which isn't practical or productive... Unlike most Gems, I was deeply saddened to discover the detrimental effects kindergartening was having on my planet. That being the case, I'm sure you're aware, White, that I was able to gestate without damaging the earth and its wildlife, at all."

Pink took a deep breath. White gave no indication of understanding Pink or agreeing with her mentality.

"I don't expect other Gems to share my opinions, and I would never jeopardise Gem production, simply to protect the earth." That part was a lie, of course. "But I reasoned, that if all Gems could gestate the way I did, then we could increase Gem production massively, without destroying the planets on which they're made!"

After a short pause, White interjected. "Yes... Peridot Prime informed me of your work, and the... extent of the progress you were making."

Pink blushed slightly. She didn't know Peridot had been reporting to White Diamond. Pink hadn't told her not to, and she was sure Peridot would have told her, had she ever asked. In hindsight, it seemed very unlikely that Peridot could simply vanish for two years, without telling her Diamond what she was doing.

"The concept is certainly... exciting." White said. For a moment, it almost seemed like she had smiled. "An increase in Gem production would benefit us all, as could the organic resources on many planets. Pink, your research has my full support."

Pink sighed in relief, believing she had gotten her way, but White Diamond wasn't finished.

"However... Yellow Diamond is not wrong. As a Diamond, you must communicate power and productivity at all times. Any failure to do so puts us all in danger, and threatens our relationships with our own Gems."

"What... what are you saying?" Pink asked, timidly, craning her neck to look the oldest Diamond in the eye.

"Yellow was acting in all of our best interests, when she reactivated your kindergarten, even though it was inappropriate of her to take action on another Diamond's planet. I have forbade Yellow from setting foot on your worlds, but only because your colony must continue by your own hand. I encourage you to continue your research, Pink, but in the meantime, you cannot remain negligent."

Pink's mind reeled. This hadn't gone nearly as well as she'd hoped. She wondered if she shouldn't have allowed White to interfere in her affairs, and if it was too late to reconsider. But if she did, then what was to stop Yellow from seizing full control of her colony? From the looks of things, her only options were to let Yellow destroy the earth, or to destroy the earth herself.

-x-x-x-

Pink curled up in the throne in her control room, weeping softly into her forearms. After her meeting with the Diamonds had concluded, she had used the Galaxy Warp to return to earth, and made her way to the control room on her ship, where the helplessness of her situation finally hit her. Pink's Pearl stood on her armrest, singing a soothing melody, and gently swaying back and forth.

"What can I do, Pearl?" Pink begged, between sobs. "My only hope of saving this planet is to physically defend it myself! And I barely have 200 Gems to my name! I couldn't repel a single one of the other Diamonds, if I made a stand against them!"

Pearl stopped singing and sighed. Although she still didn't much care for organic life, she cared very deeply for the Diamond for whom she was made. "Yes..." She sadly agreed. "You barely have enough forces to invade this planet, and there's not even anyone defending it..." She laughed weakly.

In an instant, Pink stopped trembling and weeping, and a second later, she looked up at her Pearl. "What did you say...?" She whispered.

Pearl rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, and backed away slightly. "I... I'm sorry, my Diamond! I didn't mean to...!"

Suddenly, Pink shot to her feet, rocking her chair enough to make Pearl stumble and trip to the ground. "No, no, you're right!" A grin spread across her face. "I can barely invade this planet!"

Pink tapped on the controls by her throne, and made a grand, sweeping gesture. Around the outside of the control room, images of all the Gems who were exclusively in Pink's court appeared. Except for Pearl, they were all Rose Quartzes.

"And since I can't defend it from the other Diamonds... then maybe someone else can defend it from me!"


	15. Rose Quartz

Several days after the Diamonds' meeting on Homeworld, Blue, White and Yellow Diamond received a call on their Diamond Lines. Pink sat in her control room, as three screens were projected, displaying her fellow Diamonds. Blue and Yellow were sitting in their own control rooms, while White was standing in front of a wide, glass window, displaying an orbital view of an alien planet Pink didn't recognise.

"My Diamonds." Pink greeted, with a salute. "I wanted to update you all on the developments since our meeting. I was deeply disappointed by the decision that I should ravage the earth, however... I do understand that Yellow and White were correct. I need to stop indulging myself and get on with my work." Pink gritted her teeth. It took all of her energy not to tell Yellow to go and jump in a black hole, and end the call.

Yellow crossed her arms and frowned, suspiciously. "Well I'm glad to hear it."

"Yes..." Pink forced herself to continue. "Anyway, I came up with a satisfying compromise, that I think will satisfy everyone, and I thought I'd share it with you all, to reassure you that my work will continue without delay."

At Pink's instruction, her Pearl uploaded a set of blueprints to the other Diamonds' displays. It was of a vast space station, with a tall, shard-like center, a smaller, control room and base on top, and a circular ring around it for docking.

"I call this the Zoo." Pink explained. "It's a space station which can create artificial environments, which can sustain plants and animals from earth. By sending specimens from earth to this base, they'll be preserved indefinitely, no matter what happens to the earth, so I needn't have any reservations about turning it into a colony."

The other diamonds took a moment to examine the extensive blueprints.

"I'm sure you've all been worried about my resolve, and I hope you find this reassuring." Pink said, earnestly.

"This is a very reasonable compromise!" Blue said, sounding impressed.

"I'm glad you found a way to alleviate your reservations." White said. "With your permission, I could have a team of Bismuths working on this in sector 134-87-Y immediately."

"I'd appreciate that." Pink replied. "Well, I'll continue preparations for my colony, I'm sure I'll still have time to preserve specimens, once the Zoo is finished."

After some more formal farewells, Pink ended the call, slouched backwards in her chair, and sighed in relief. From behind her throne, Tayko made her way over to Pearl's station.

"Do you think they bought it?" She asked.

"They didn't seem... that suspicious." Pearl said. "Blue and White certainly seemed convinced, at any rate."

Pink sat cross-legged and span her chair to face the pair of them. "They should be, it was true."

Tayko frowned nervously. "But you're not building the colony... right?"

"Well, no, not that part. But I am building the Zoo, so some small part of Earth can be preserved... Should the worst happen."

Tayko sighed in remorse. "A failsafe..." She realised.

"Yeah, but hopefully it'll also convince the other Diamonds that I'm willing to destroy the earth, when the Rebellion starts." Pink said.

Pearl didn't seem so sure. "My Diamond... don't you think the others will be a bit... suspicious, if a rebellion begins so soon after you vowed to get to work? Zoo or no Zoo?"

"They'll buy it, if we sell it right. I have a plan, we just need to find our leader, before we begin. Pearl, how are we doing on that?"

Pink Pearl didn't reply, as she knew the question wasn't directed at her. On the other side of the planet, White Diamond's primary Pearl flew over the desert in a small, diamond-shaped vessel, with a glass dome, over a small, one-Gem cockpit. She was listening in on the conversation through her console.

Shortly after the meeting with the Diamonds, Pink had contacted Pearl in secret, and requested that she return to earth. Pink had gone on to specify that it was imperative that White Diamond not discover that the two of them had spoken, and that Pearl convince White that she wished to go, for her own peace of mind, under the pretense that she was concerned for Pink's progress. When she got to earth, she learnt why.

Pink was planning a rebellion. She needed forces to protect her planet, under the pretense that Pink was fighting against them, alone, out of a sense of pride and responsibility, and there was nobody Pink wanted to join, more than Pearl. If Pearl accepted, then White would assume it had been her intention all along, to defect. Pearl spared a moment to consider the proposal, and had to admit that it was a dream come true. On earth, she could be free to be the warrior she had always wanted to be, and retaliate to anyone who disrespected her, with a sword, rather than a sneer behind their back.

As excellent as she would be, Pearl couldn't lead Pink's rebellion. If the leader had the slightest affiliation with another Diamond, then that Diamond would have a responsibility to fight back. The leader had to be a member of Pink's own court. Pink needed a Rose Quartz. Pearl had flown from base to base, looking for a Rose who met Pink's rather steep list of parameters. She had to be powerful, a natural leader, a likely candidate for rebelling against her superiors, and most importantly- she had to love the earth. Pink couldn't simply have a rebellion leader following her orders, the leader had to be fighting for herself, and what she believed in.

"Not too well, Pink." Pearl replied, through her com-link. "I've found a handful of Rose Quartzes who care for the earth, and its organic life, but none who are exactly leader material, and vice versa, I'm afraid. It might be you'll have to make some compromises."

"No." Pink said, resolutely. "She's out there, somewhere. How many more bases do you have?"

"Just the one. I'll be there in a moment."

"Okay." Pink sighed. "Let me know how it goes."

The last of the bases on Pearl's list was in one of the planet's deserts. Pearl flew her Light Kite towards it, in stealth mode, and landed nearby. The base had been built instantaneously, simply by dropping a pre-programmed Desert Glass gem on the ground, which had instantly formed a sturdy base out of sand, with no need for Bismuths. The Sand Castle that had formed, had a sizeable central compound, which dug below the planet's surface, multiple outposts and a defensive wall.

Thus far, Pearl had been stealthy. So far as she knew, no one on earth, besides Pink and her inner circle even knew she was there. If word got out that Pearl was vetting Rose Quartzes, before the rebellion started, then rumors could circulate that the Rose Quartz selected wasn't the true leader. From her gem, Pearl summoned a vial of yellow/brown liquid, formulated by Homeworld scientists, for stealth missions, the likes of which Pearl was on. She unscrewed the cap, revealing, on the other side, a small brush, suspended in the liquid. Pearl painted her gem with a generous layer of it and, from her head down, her form was rendered the same colour as the liquid, the sand, and the base.

Pearl leapt to the top of the base's wall, and crawled along it, on her torso. The sun was beginning to set, and visibility was limited, but Pearl kept a close eye on the small group of Rose Quartz soldiers milling around the inside of the compound, ready, should they look in her direction. Some were wrestling in the sand, a few were lying on their backs, or against the base, watching the sunset, but one Rose Quartz immediately caught Pearl's eye.

She was just outside of the base's wall, on the other side of a large, open gateway, crouching in the sand, in front of a large patch of around fifty cacti. Surprisingly, the cacti were the same shape as the Rose Quartz in question, identical, save for being a third of her size, green and covered in needles, and each with a large, pink flower on their heads. Most strangely off all, the cacti were rushing back and forth, pushing and shoving each other, and tackling one another to the ground. Pearl had seen countless plants during her time on earth, but none had been quite so animate.

Another thought wrestled its way to the front of Pearl's mind, regardless of how she tried to suppress it. The Rose Quartz was breath-takingly beautiful. Her hair was made up entirely of swirling ringlets of bubblegum pink, which ran down her back, she wore an incredible, flowing dress, transitioning from white to pink, as it went down her body, and on her navel, was her gem, in the center of a star-shaped space in her clothes.

"Settle down now, everyone!" The Rose chuckled, her voice was warm and soft. "You don't want to hurt each other!"

Pearl silently watched from the top of the wall. Even at her distance, Pearl could see the adoration for the prickly plants, in the Rose Quartz's eyes. Love of the earth- check. From inside the base, a pair of Rose Quartzes ran out into the compound, and immediately over to the Rose at the gate, to whom they saluted.

"N0-R4, your clarity!" They greeted. "Censors picked up a level 9 sandstorm three sectors away. It'll hit us in twenty minutes."

The Rose stood up straight and turned to face them. "Alright, head back inside and increase the base's integrity to 80%. Everyone!" The small group of Rose Quartzes around the base turned to face her. "Back inside."

"We've got twenty minutes!" One of the Roses who had been wrestling argued, with her partner in a headlock.

"Now." N0-R4 emphasised, without raising her voice or intensifying her tone.

One by one, the Roses got to their feet and made their way into the base, without another word of complaint. "Thank you. I'll be in in a moment." She turned back around to the cacti, who had watched the conversation with great interest. "Atten-SHUN!"

In an instant, the cacti fell into perfect formation, and saluted Rose.

"This base will be vulnerable while the sandstorm keeps us inside and scrambles our censors, we're counting on you to defend it!"

Instantly, the cacti divided into small groups and made their way around the perimeter of the base, while Pearl watched in wonder. She couldn't believe her luck, literally. A small part of her worried that she was being set up. Nevertheless, the Rose Quartz was absolutely perfect. She was Pearl's first appropriate candidate, and Pink had given her instructions to follow, should she ever find such a Gem. The Rose Quartz could lead, and she loved the earth, but could she fight for it?

Rose commanded the compound's gates to close with a swing of her arms, and turned around, to see, to her great surprise, a slender, yellow/brown figure drop from the sky, onto the sand.

"Oh... hello..." Rose greeted, once she overcame her shock. "Are you... an earth animal?"

In an instant, Pearl drew her swords and shot at Rose like a laser blast. Moving equally swiftly, Rose summoned her shield and the two collided with a resounding crash. Through her shield, Rose noticed that her assailant was not only a Gem, but a Pearl. One belonging to White Diamond if her Gem placement was anything to go on.

Before Rose could ponder the bizarre situation any further, Pearl leapt backwards and, with an acrobatic twirl, kicked up a small flurry of sand, which then vanished, with her along with it. Rose ran towards the center of the compound, pulling a communications crystal from the folds of her dress as she ran. She tried to summon her fellow soldiers, but Pearl had had her Light Kite override control of the base, lock the doors once the two of them were alone, and jam communications. Pink had granted her supreme clearance.

Rose spun around, in reaction to the quietest of footsteps behind her, and hurled her shield, only to see it slice through a hologram, which had lunged towards her. More holopearls appeared, one after the other, rising from the sand, and charging at Rose Quartz with swords drawn. Rose did a remarkable job of defending from them at first, spinning around to face each one, with a shield in each hand, thrusting away their weapons and slicing through their forms, but it soon became apparent that she was overwhelmed. She leapt into the air with a shockwave of sand, which sent the holopearls flying off their feet, and landed gently on the compound wall.

Before the holopearls could pursue their quarry, Rose whistled sharply and, like an incoming tide around a rock, Rose's army of cacti poured over the compound walls and engaged the holopearls. Although they were much smaller and had no weapons besides their diminutive spines, the cacti fought like a well-oiled machine, striking the holograms in different places, forcing them to the ground, and throwing one another like missiles, tearing through he holograms with handfuls of needles. Pearl's holograms, which were little more that dim-witted robots, were no match.

Up on the wall, Rose was only distracted for a moment, by the ongoing skirmish below, before the real Pearl lunged into the air, silhouetted by the moon, and struck at Rose again. The two made their way along the wall, with Pearl slashing at Rose repeatedly, but unable to bypass or pierce Rose's shield. Although her expression was somber, Pearl was having the time of her life, she had never thought she would ever get a chance to put her sword-fighting skills to the test, and Rose was proving a formidable opponent.

Once Rose and Pearl's battle made its way to the edge of the wall, Pearl saw her opening. She shot backwards, and hurled one of her swords at Rose's feet. The sand crumbled, and gave way, leaving Rose to trip and fall towards the sand, outside the compound. As Rose fell, Pearl braced her feet on the side of the wall and shot at her, swords first, ready to dissipate her, and bring her to Pink Diamond, but even falling through the air, the Rose Quartz was sharp. She summoned a shield on the back of each hand and swung them in opposite directions. One sent the weapons flying from Pearl's hands, and the other collided with the back of Pearl's head, and sent her flying, face-first into the compound wall.

The two Gems hit the sand, and wearily climbed to their feet. Rose looked at Pearl and gasped fearfully. Pearl had a feeling she knew why, and reached up to find, to her dismay, a crack running along her gem. Pearl couldn't believe her luck, her very first combat mission, and she was done for. A cracked gem was usually a death sentence. A properly equipped Gem laboratory would have the equipment to repair a crack, but Pearl's best chance was Pink's ship, and she was in no condition to fly, and she doubted she had time, anyway.

Pearl felt her form flicker, and the crack in her gem intensify. She fell to her knees and wept fearfully, as her vision distorted. She could just about make out the Rose Quartz rising to her feet. Would she disrupt and bubble her? Or worse, finish her off? Pearl's vision was filled with a blurry, pink and white, as Rose approached her, and Pearl braced herself for the worst, but, to her massive surprise, Pearl felt a tingling in her gem, and her form restablising. Rose swam back into view, and Pearl saw her, with tears running down her eyes, and her finger gently resting on Pearl's gem. She was smiling in gentle relief.

Pearl couldn't believe what had happened. Had Rose just healed her? That power was unprecidented. If Rose really had the power to heal cracked gems, then she could not only be the perfect leader for the rebellion, but the missing piece of the puzzle, who could make it possible for a small team of Gems, to repel an army.

"Now... why don't you tell me what it is you're doing here?" Rose gently coaxed, as she held her hand out to Pearl.

Pearl breathlessly took Rose's hand and let her help her to her feet. "I was sent by Pink Diamond, I had to test you." Pearl explained. "She needs a Gem exactly like you, for an incredibly important mission."


	16. We are the Crystal Gems

The atmosphere in Pink Diamond's control room was formal, and intense. Pink sat in her throne with a serious frown, looking down at Rose Quartz. On Rose's left, stood White Pearl and Tayko, on her right, was Pink Pearl.

"What we're about to discuss, can _never_ leave this room." Pink said, in a serious voice. "Rose Quartz Facet-N0 Cut-R4... do you know why you're here?"

"Pearl said you had an important mission for me." Rose replied.

"No... not exactly." Pink said, choosing her words carefully. "This isn't a mission, or an order... Consider this... an invitation. You're free to decline it. If you do, we can erase your memory in the ship's lab, and you can return to your base."

Rose frowned concernedly. She had no idea what Pink Diamond was building towards, but the intensity of her words and tone was making her anxious. Pink, scarcely seemed any more comfortable, herself.

"Rose Quartz... I asked Pearl to bring me a Gem of your cut who cares for the planet below. Is that you?" Pink asked.

"Yes... my Diamond." Rose uncertainly replied. "It'll make a wonderful..."

"No no no!" Pink quickly interrupted, startling Rose. "I'm not asking if you think this planet has potential, or if you think it'll make a good colony, or what value you think it has to Homeworld. Do you care for this planet... the way it is right now?"

Pink looked left and right at her companions. She desperately tried to figure out the correct answer. It seemed likely that Pink Diamond was either seeking a kindred spirit, or weeding out potential traitors. The presence of what seemed to be a mutated human was a variable Rose wasn't sure what to think of. Either way, the threat of shattering felt close, should Rose answer incorrectly. Eventually, Rose settled on the truth.

"Yes..." She sighed. "The life on this planet is wonderful and unique, and it saddens me deeply, what we have planned for it."

Rose had, in fact, answered correctly. Pink continued. "This is the Prime Kindergarten, currently."

She produced an image from her armrest, of the kindergarten, and showed it to Rose, prompting a distressed gasp from the smaller, pink Gem. Rose hadn't seen the site since she emerged. Since Yellow and Pink's fight, the Gems gestating had ravaged the environment entirely. The ground was dry and grey, the river was bone dry, and all that was left of the trees, were brittle, black husks.

"Unless someone does something, this will happen to this entire planet, and if I do something, then the other Diamonds will invade, and destroy this planet themselves. Rose Quartz... I would like you to be the one to defend this planet... I want you to lead a rebellion."

"If your own Rose Quartz rebels... then the other Diamonds won't intervene." Rose realised.

"I can help you out to begin with, but I won't be able to deter the Diamonds forever. Eventually, you'll have to amass enough forces to defend yourself from real attacks, and I think it can be done." Pink changed the subject again, to indirectly illustrate her point further. "You've already met White Diamond's Primary Pearl. She doesn't particularly care for the earth, but she yearns for freedom from Homeworld oppression. Earth is the only place in the universe where she can be the warrior she really is."

Rose turned to Pearl. "I was astounded to find that a Pearl could be so formidable in battle."

Pearl was somewhat caught off-guard by the compliment. She blushed a light blue, averted her eyes and gave a quiet, "Thank you."

"Pearl isn't alone. I think there are a lot of Gems in the universe, who are entirely different from the Gems they were made to be, and would leap at a chance to fight for a planet where they can be themselves. In fact, while Pearl was looking for you, I've been doing some research of my own."

With a sweep of her arm, monitors filled the room, around, and between its occupants, each one showing a portrait of a Gem, of various cuts, including Rubies, Agates, Rose Quartzes and Jaspers.

"Two hundred and seventeen Gems, just on earth, who are on probation, or have been given official warnings, for irrationally acting outside of their function." The images swarmed over to Pink Diamond, as she listed them off. "A Bismuth who carves figurines of earth animals out of wood. Two Agates who won't stop fusing outside of battle. A team of Jaspers and Morganites who created a game about throwing rocks at each other. _Thirty-two_ Rubies who faint at the sight of organic blood! This planet is full of Gems who just want to be themselves! They're just waiting for someone like you, to lead the way. What do you think?"

The room fell deathly silent, as attention shifted back to Rose. She frowned, and considered the momentous proposal.

"Again, this has to be _your_ choice." Pink reiterated. "You don't have to do it, but if you do, then hopefully, we'll never speak directly again."

Rose took more time still. After what felt like an age, she looked up at Pink, and gave a grin of resolve, and a Diamond salute. "It would be my honour... my Diamond!"

Pink relaxed tremendously as relief washed over her. "Yes! Excellent!" She announced. "Now, before we even begin, we need to sell this rebellion to the other Diamonds. Yellow is already suspicious that I'm planning to delay my colony again, and if we do this wrong, then we could all be shattered."

"What did you have in mind?" Rose asked, unphased by Pink's threat.

"Well, as I said, this is your rebellion, but I _suggest_ , that you start here." Pink beckoned another of her list of potential rebels, a Bismuth with rainbow-coloured dreadlocks. "Bismuth R17-E45. Given multiple warnings for unauthorised weapons development."

"Weapons?" Rose was surprised. Bismuths were made for building structures, but it was no more surprising than a warrior Pearl.

"Yes, she's been reported multiple times, for being overly aggressive or physical with her fellow Bismuths. That being the case, she's never actually used her weapons, so far as her superiors know. I think she just makes them because she's good at it. I mean... _really_ good at it. Here's the footage of the last time her Morganite caught her in the act."

With a tap, the image of the Bismuth was replaced by a surveillance video, without audio. Bismuth was in a small, seemingly hand-made forge, working on what looked like a sword, when a Morganite walked into the room, and began shouting angrily, while Bismuth tried to defend herself with a blend of concern and frustration on her face. The Morganite snatched the sword from her, despite some fearful protests. The sword glowed brightly and, moments later, beams of light began to lash outwards from it, tearing through the walls of the base, like it was made of glass. The recording ended as the base collapsed around the camera.

"That was twelve years ago." Pink explained. "She hasn't been caught again, but her Morganite is still suspicious. If you rally her to the rebellion, and find out what she's working on now, then I bet you can really kick things off with a bang! And I actually had an idea for your first move..."

-x-x-x-

A month had passed, since the Diamonds had convened on Homeworld, and, so far as the other Diamonds knew, Pink had taken their decision to heart. Pink was finally restarting her colony, and she was making that clear, not only to her own Gems, but to all of Gemkind. Her ship soared over the Earth, below the cloud layer, flying from base to base, ensuring as many Gems saw it as possible. As it flew, Pink addressed her people. Her words boomed from her ship directly, as well as transmitting to every receiver on earth, and beyond. Even though Pink hadn't approached the Diamonds again, she knew they were listening.

"Attention Gemkind! This is Pink Diamond, back on earth! This colony is long overdue and will not be delayed a second longer! I realise my delays have caused uncertainty and doubt among you, but I am here to put your mind at ease. Everything I have done has been for the betterment of this colony and my people, and anyone who doubts that, had best keep it to themselves..."

The terrain beneath Pink's ship grew drier and more desolate, until it was soaring over one of the planet's deserts.

"More drop ships are en route, carrying additional resources. We WILL be making up for lost time. This colony will be finished within the decade, and then we'll be moving on to the next planet. The work schedules have been generated and..."

On Pink Diamond's bridge, flashing, red lights were popping up on the Peridots' work stations, one after the other. Before long, a Morganite raced to the back of the bridge, where Pink Diamond was transmitting her message, and desperately tried to get her attention.

"What?" Pink eventually hissed, irritably.

"I... I'm so sorry, my Diamond, but we're getting huge energy spikes from the ground ahead, and there's an unathorised platoon of Gems!"

"What?" Pink feigned her surprise. She hadn't known when Rose Quartz would strike, but she assumed it was now.

The display of the sky and horizon, covering the far wall of the bridge, was replaced by footage of the group of Gems ahead. They were standing in a triangle formation, in the sand. Rose Quartz stood in the front, brandishing a large, pink flag with a Rose Quartz gem in the center, with thorny vines leading outwards, immediately behind her, was White Pearl and Tayko, and behind them, were almost thirty other Gems of various cuts, including a handful of fusions, two of which comprised of different kinds of Gems.

Pink's bridge broke out in quizzical murmurs, as the Peridots shared in their confusion.

"Who's that?"

"What's she doing?"

"Isn't that White Diamond's Pearl?"

Rose Quartz pulled a small crystal from her dress and shouted into it, "FOR THE EARTH!"

Her entourage immediately chorused, "FOR THE EARTH!"

Immediately after the words were spoken, sirens began to wail in Pink's bridge and several Peridots screamed in panic. On the display, three circles appeared, highlighting three spaces amidst the Gems, forming a perfect triangle.

"M... my Diamond!" The Morganite cried, consulting a small display in the hand. "Energy levels just skyrocketed!"

"What's happening!?" Pink demanded, angrily.

The Gems on the ground separated, stepping away from the highlighted circles, revealing three large, pink cannons, trained on Pink's ship. Slowly, the mouths of the cannons folded outwards, like rose petals, and a gleaming light shone from inside.

"B... b... but our shields! We've got shields! They'll never breach our shields, right?" One Peridot begged, desperately.

"These energy levels are insane!" Another Peridot screamed back. "Who the heck knows!?"

In unison, a beam of light erupted from each of the cannons, and soared through the air, each forming a thorny rose, as it flew. The beams exploded against the hull of Pink's ship, the entire vessel shook and, inside, the lights flickered as all power was directed to shields. On the large display, the shield integrity level dropped to nothing over the course of a few seconds. More sirens screeched as the cannons below unleashed a second assault.

"My Diamond!" Morganite screeched. "Our shields are dead, and our weapons don't have time to arm!"

Morganite had barely finished her sentence, when Pink screamed into her receiver. "Abandon ship! Abandon ship! All crew to the..."

Pink's order was interrupted by the second wave of canon fire. The first blast hit Pink's ship squarely at the base of the wrist, and tore straight through, as though the ship wasn't even there. On the bridge, in the hand, Pink's crew screamed as that part of the ship tore away with an explosion of sparks and smoke. All of the lights died, and the bridge freefell towards the sand. Before it crash-landed, though, the other two beams of light exploded through the palm, and obliterated the rest of the ship, while it was without shields or controls.

Giant sheets of pink metal rained down on the desert, as well as hundreds of Gems, most of them bereft of their physical forms. The blizzard of smoke and sand that ensued obscured the crash site entirely, for several minutes, until it settled, revealing the wreckage left by the attack. Like some frail and dying human, the fingers of Pink's ship reached out of the sand, as though pleading for help. Just behind them, Pink rose from the sand, heaving a large sheet of metal above her head, as sand poured off it. Beneath her, her morganite and several Peridots huddled.

Above them, Rose Quartz stood dramatically on the joint of one of the ship's fingers. Her Gems rallied around and beneath her.

"Pink Diamond! This colony will not be built!" She commanded.

"Who are you maniacs!?" Morganite angrily demanded, saving Pink from convincingly asking the question herself.

Rose Quartz grinned at the excellent setup, and hoisted her flag above her head. "WE... ARE... THE CRYSTAL GEMS!"


	17. Finger on the Trigger

The Rebellion had begun. After the attack on Pink's ship, Rose's forces had easily overpowered and disrupted the survivors. They had even destroyed Pink's physical form, an extremely rare occurrence, for a Diamond, apparently. Pink had reformed in the desert, alone, without another Gem to be seen. Pink didn't know what Rose would do with the Gems from her ship, nor the later ones, captured during the war, but she trusted in her confidant's compassion.

Of course, it wasn't difficult for Rose to persuade her forces that Pink Diamond would have to go free and unharmed. They knew that, if anything happened to her, they would probably face the full wrath of the other Diamonds. For the rebellion to succeed, Pink, herself, would have to be persuaded that the earth could not be made into a colony.

With no ship or crew, Pink had aimlessly roamed the desert for several hours, before, with a resounding whooshing sound, White Diamond's ship materialised in the air above her. When she met with White, Pink did a convincing job of being very remorseful. She confessed to White that she realised that her time away, and her concern for the planet had encouraged her Gems to share her sentimentality, and that when she went back on her decision, it caused unrest and uproar, which had motivated Rose Quartz into action.

Rose's former colleagues claimed they weren't surprised. She had always been irrationally attached to earth life, even expressing it through one of her gem powers. She was also uncharacteristically caring and sympathetic, for a warrior. The last time they had seen Rose, she had ordered everyone into the base, and locked them in, just as a sandstorm hit, covering her escape.

With her ship gone, Pink began to use her palanquin more. They weren't traditionally used for long-range transportation, so upgrades had to be made. The Diamond Base on the moon replaced the ship as Pink's base of operations. In the early years of the rebellion, the other Diamonds didn't only accept that Pink wished to fight her renegade Rose Quartz herself, but encouraged her to. Rebellion was an embarrassment to any Diamond, the only reason it even crossed the other Diamonds' minds to help, was because Pink was still so young, comparatively, and her forces were meager.

The years dragged on, and Rose Quartz's army grew by the day. Love of the earth and organic life, remained an oddity for Gemkind, loyal and rebel alike, but the idea of being free from orders, and able to act however they pleased, proved attractive to Gems all over Gem-controlled space. Eventually, White and Blue Diamond had to set up a blockade around the earth, to keep Gems from flying in from galaxies away, in stolen ships, solely for the purpose of joining the famous rebellion.

Despite her plan, Pink Diamond had to occasionally take a risk, and send a message to Rose, to warn her of sneak attacks, and some of White and Blue's more promising strategies. She did this by sending her Pearl to make contact with Rebels on the earth, who would deliver the message to Rose, at her latest secret hideout. The beauty of it was that most of the Crystal Gems were under the impression that Pink Pearl was a double agent, treacherously leaking her Diamond's secrets without her knowledge. The danger of this strategy grew rapidly until, miraculously, just as Pink began to fear she'd be caught out, one of Blue Diamond's own Sapphires joined the rebellion, along with her Ruby guard. With her prophetic powers, the Crystal Gems became impossible to sneak up on, and Pink's assistance was no longer necessary, giving her further plausible deniability.

For hundreds of years, the Crystal Gems and Homeworld forces were at a stalemate. Any attempt to continue the colony was met with resistance, and the loss of Homeworld Gems. Gems operating under White Diamond's orders did so with the authorisation to shatter, although they very rarely got a chance, thanks to Rose's healing powers. The only other option available to the Diamonds was to obliterate the planet with a fully armed fleet, from orbit. Fortunately, it wasn't too suspicious that Pink vowed never to authorise such a contingency, and White and Blue didn't press her to.

That was simply the way the war was, with neither side making much headway, that is, until the fateful day when all four Diamonds convened for the second time. This time, it was Yellow Diamond who had arranged the meeting, and it was with much trepidation and anxiety, that Pink accepted the invitation. Yellow was most insistent, since apparently the meeting concerned her, greatly.

Due to her occupation on earth, and the excessive resources it would require, Pink hadn't ordered the construction of a new Diamond Ship, yet. Fortunately, there was a Galaxy Warp near Yellow's meeting place, and Pink soon arrived, in one of her drop ships. This time, the Diamonds weren't to meet on Homeworld, but in a space station in the heart of a remote asteroid field. The station's purpose was for testing weapons with cataclysmic potential. It was thousands of light years away from anything important to Gemkind, that it could destroy.

The three, arm-shaped, Diamond ships, and Pink's drop ship honed in on a large landing bay. The Diamonds disembarked and made their way inside. The interior of the base was spacious, and a sterile white. One wall featured floor-to-ceiling windows, displaying a breathtaking view of the ocean of asteroids that surrounded the base. At ground level, the same wall was lined with terminals, for controlling and organising weapons tests. Dozens of Gems, (primarily Peridots) stood at the terminals, ready for Yellow's demonstration.

"The reason I have called you all here... is to discuss the situation on earth." Yellow said, once the Diamonds had entered the base.

Pink's suspicions were confirmed. A world-destroying weapons testing range was the last place she wished to discuss the future of the planet she cared for.

"I doubt this surprises any of you, as the rebellion has been a focus of attention across Gem space for almost a millennium now! And it is for that reason, that I hope you'll understand the severity of what I am about to propose."

"Yellow, you asked us to meet you at a weapon's testing range." White interrupted, coldly. "I think we can all imagine why we're here. If it is, in fact, a weapon you believe can end the war, then you can spare us your foreshadowing, otherwise, please continue."

Yellow frowned. Of course, White was correct, but she had wished to justify herself further before making her reveal, lest she be judged too harshly. Reluctantly, Yellow gestured at a space between the four Diamonds, and a hologram appeared. It showed a rendering of a cannon, and in incredibly intricate one at that. It had thousands of moving parts, all leading to a silver sphere, trained on the cannon's target.

"It occurs to me, that what keeps us from ending the war, is an inability to cleanse the earth of rebels, without damaging its resources. My Diamonds, I present to you, the solution. This cannon can project a radio wave across a celestial body, which reprograms a gem at its core, drastically and unpredictably altering its owners behaviour and physical form, while utterly erasing her memories."

Yellow grinned triumphantly, but none of her fellow Diamonds shared her positivity.

"Yellow that sounds horrific!" Blue critisised.

"I admit that it's... distasteful. But practicality wise, it's flawless. With the touch of a button, every Gem on earth could be rendered a mindless animal, and Pink's colony can resume on the same day! Without their strategies or comradery, the Crystal Gems could be rounded up and put out of their misery within a week!"

When she once again, failed to get her intended reaction, Yellow sighed and made her way over to the windows overlooking the asteroids. "Perhaps a demonstration?"

The view through the windows suddenly magnified, zooming rapidly in on a particularly large asteroid. Its surface was covered in large, grey slug-like creatures, and spaced in between them, were dummy Gems, the likes of which Peridot Prime had grown in Pink's laboratory. They were skinny humanoids, with translucent skin, no faces, and spherical gems floating in their cores. Most of them were standing still, but they would occasionally take a few steps in one direction, or poke idly at the slugs or each other.

Another window pane zoomed in on an adjacent asteroid, on which Yellow's cannon was mounted. It was difficult to get a sense of scale, at such a distance, but Pink suspected it was colossal. All along the weapon, lights illuminated, and engine parts began to stir. Even though no sound could reach the station, one could almost imagine the thunderous roar, as the machine practically pulsated with energy. Finally, a beam of light exploded from the sphere, aimed at the asteroid. The light hit the ground and expanded in a circle, like a tsunami. The slugs didn't react to the light in any way, but the effect on the dummy Gems began instantly.

The moment the light passed over the Dummies' physical forms, their gems glowed a bright white, and they collapsed to their knees, or fell all the way to the ground, grabbing their heads or otherwise communicating discomfort. A few moments after they were hit by the light, their forms began to change. Over the course of a few minutes, they took erratic and unique forms. Some grew extra limbs, some mutated in shape, almost all of them grew larger. Once they were mutated, the Dummies became considerably more active. Some ran or flew away, some snapped and snarled at one another, while others began to tear each other, and the slugs apart.

"I call the process... 'corruption'." Yellow dramatically announced, a few seconds after the demonstration ended.

Pink was the first to respond, and she did so loudly and furiously. "Yellow, this is sick! How dare you even suggest I use this weapon. I want this war ended, but I wouldn't use _that_ on _anyone_!" Pink stood as close as she could to Yellow, while still making eye contact with the taller Diamond, and the subtext in her words was clear. _'I wouldn't even use it on you.'_

"I agree, Yellow." Blue said. "Surely Rose Quartz is a villainous Gem who deserves everything she gets, but not every rebel deserves _that_!" She thrusted her hand at the monstrous Gems on the display.

"Well forgive my bluntness." Yellow said, without a hint of remorse, folding her arms. "But I whole-heartedly disagree. There is no crime greater than acting directly against the Great Diamond Authority, and no punishment severe enough for those who do! Be they leader or foot soldier!"

Slowly, three sets of eyes made their way over to White, as her input was awaited. When the other Diamonds fell silent, White chose to contribute.

"Yellow is correct." She said.

Pink felt as though her gem was fracturing, she had no idea what she would do if White made her use this weapon. Her first thought was to simply lunge at Yellow here and now, and try to shatter her again, and then go for White if she had to. Even if she wasn't galaxies away from fertile soil, that was obviously a horrible idea.

Thankfully, White continued. "This weapon is the most effective way, if not the only way to end the war, once and for all. The war is proving harmful, all over Gem Space, and it is in the interest of all of us to end it however we deep possible."

Yellow grinned triumphantly, and Pink was considering all the best ways to attack, that could be followed by a triumphant battle, but White still wasn't finished.

"However... The use of a weapon of this level of Gem destruction should be treated democratically, especially as the Rebellion includes Gems who once belonged to all of our courts. If Blue and Pink are both opposed to its use, then it shall remain inactive, until such a time as a majority vote can be achieved."

Blue and Pink confirmed their decision with a pair of curt nods. White took a step towards Yellow. "You must have realised you couldn't do whatever you pleased with a weapon like this." She sighed, reluctant to talk down to her fellow Diamond. "You should have informed the rest of us, before you even began development."

Yellow didn't respond. Sensing the meeting was over, White and Blue made some formal farewells, and made for the landing bay. Pink didn't move, despite an invitation from Blue, and eventually, she and Yellow were relatively alone, for the first time, in quite a while.

"I told you before, Yellow..." Pink snarled. "Keep... your nose... out of..."

"This war is affecting everything, Pink!" Yellow spat. "It was bad enough when you were the Diamond of nothing! When you sat alone in a lab, with a Peridot and a defective Pearl! But now, your own Gem is rebelling against you, and every Gem in the universe has the idea in their head, that rebellion is an option, and so is following orders!"

"What exactly, about that, do you take issue with, Yellow?" Pink retorted. "Do you hate the fact that your Gems might have independent thought? Because if you want to rule over a planet of mindless puppets, then nothing's stopping you!" Pink gestured to the window pane, which was still displaying the corrupted Gem Dummies.

"I want Gems who are loyal and fearful! I want a society built on consistency and respect! But we lost all of that, the moment we made the fatal error of growing a Diamond on a planet as foul and defective as earth!"

"Well tough luck." Pink spat. "Because you did make me, and as long as I'm around, that weapon will never be used. So, congratulations Yellow, you just used enough resources to colonise three worlds, to make the universe's most elabourate back-scratcher!"

With another scowl at Yellow, Pink stormed from the base and towards her ship. While Yellow seethed, Pink's words rang in her ears over and over.

 _"As long as I'm around. As long as I'm around. As long as I'm around."_

Yes, Yellow thought, as long as Pink was around, nothing would change, especially now that White had forbade the use of her weapon, without Pink's approval. So far as Yellow could see it, there was only one possible course of action. She left the station, for her own ship. She had some very important Gems to assemble.


	18. The Invitation

On an unremarkable sector of Earth, built into an equally unremarkable cliffside by a beach, was a plain, grey doorway. The only possible way it could be noticed, would be if a Gem walked right past it, and looked in its direction. Homeworld Gems would have no reason to do either, which was fortunate, as this was one of the primary hideouts of the Crystal Gems.

Not too long ago, a Crystal Heart, salvaged from the wreckage of Pink Diamond's ship, had been buried in the cliff, which, when activated, created a pocket dimension of vast proportions. On the other side of the door, was a cavernous room, immensely larger than the cliff it resided in. The room was packed with briefing tables, detailed maps, weapon racks, and adjoining it, were smaller rooms, in which the Crystal Gems trained, or even relaxed in between missions.

Rose often encouraged her troops to take time to relax and enjoy themselves when they could. It was important, she told them, to remember the things they were fighting for. On a Crystal Gem's time off, she might eat, sleep, make art, sing or play with earth animals, or whatever it was about earth, and herself, that had motivated her to rebel.

As the busiest Crystal Gem, with the responsibility of organising the entire rebellion, Rose Quartz took the least time off, by far, but from time to time, she would make trips to the nearby forests and meadows, to visit the earth plants she was cultivating. She tried not to use her gem powers too much, and endow the plants with sentience, for fear of attracting attention, but she enjoyed being around them, anyway.

During a relatively quiet period, in between attacks, Rose decided to treat herself to one such break. She made her way through the base, greeting her fellow Gems as she went, and headed towards the door. Leaning against the wall, by the exit, with her arms folded, was one of Rose's right-hand Gems. Garnet was the fusion of Blue Diamond's Ruby and Sapphire, who had rebelled of their own accord, out of a romantic love for each other. Sapphire's prophetic powers were invaluable to the war effort. Despite being Rose's tied second in command, Garnet had no idea, of the true origins of the rebellion. The only Crystal Gems who were privy to that information, were Rose, Pearl and Tayko.

"Hey Garnet, how's my future looking?" Rose asked, jokingly.

This was Rose's part of a routine the two of them had. Usually, Garnet would grin, and reply by saying something like, 'Rain in five minutes.' Or 'Don't trip on any tree roots.' But today, Garnet only frowned, and gritted her teeth. All three of her eyes squinted in distress.

"What is it?" Rose asked, in a quiet, but urgent voice. "Is something going to happen?"

"You... you have to go..." Garnet mumbled, before screwing up her face in distress.

With a flash of light, Ruby and Sapphire separated. This was fairly common. Ruby and Sapphire were still getting to know each other, and usually, they could only remain fused for a few weeks at a time, before needing to separate, to more effectively communicate their differences of opinion. Nevertheless, Rose sensed there was an important reason, for the couple's falling out, this time.

Sapphire reached out to Ruby, who had clearly caused the disruption, but before her partner could calm her, Ruby blurted out, "Rose, there's going to be an attack!"

The room immediately fell deadly silent, and all eyes fell upon the group at the doorway. A second later, dozens of weapons were either summoned, or grabbed from the edge of the room.

"Everyone calm down!" Rose hastily shouted. "There's more to it than that. We're going to talk this out."

With a gesture from Rose, the base's doors opened, and Rose ushered the two short Gems outside. They journeyed away from the door, and onto the beach.

"So, what's this about an attack, and why the falling out?" Rose asked.

Garnet had been reporting on upcoming attacks since she joined the rebellion, and they had never caused her to unfuse.

"There is a small group of enemy Gems coming..." Sapphire explained. "They're not here to fight, they just want to talk with you."

"Which is why we'll be able to get the jump on them!" Ruby angrily explained, not to Rose, but to her partner.

"They don't want to fight. We should extend them the same courtesy." Sapphire calmly retorted.

"Sapphire is right, Ruby." Rose said, to the red Gem's minor annoyance. "We were never going to fight off Homeworld forever. Negotiation is what will end this war, not brute force."

Ruby grabbed handfuls of her hair, anxiously. "But... we don't even know what they want! What if they shatter you!?"

Rose smiled. "Then Garnet and Pearl are in charge." She said, nonchalantly.

Without another word, Rose made her way down the beach. Ruby silently expressed her frustration some more, while Sapphire gently rested a hand on her shoulder, attempting to console her. Obviously, Ruby was right, there was every chance Rose was walking into an assassination, but she couldn't afford to miss the chance to negotiate an end to the war. She was sure that if anything too bad was going to happen, then Sapphire would foresee it.

If Rose had a heart, it would have pounded furiously, in response to her nerves, as she walked into the forest, towards one of her favourite flower patches. Every movement and noise, from the local wildlife, caught Rose's attention, yet she tried not to respond too suspiciously. After several minutes of walking, Rose found herself at the top of a hill, on the other side of the bay, from her hideout. The cliff was just about visible in the distance. Rose could almost make out the tiny, red speck that was Ruby, anxiously awaiting her return.

Rose approached her flowers and beamed proudly. She had used her powers to help them a little, but the truth was that plants on earth thrived everywhere, which was one of the things that made her admire the planet so much. Rose tried to push the upcoming arrival out of her mind, so that she might look suitably surprised when they came. She didn't know how the enemy had found her (even Pink didn't know where Rose was), but she would prefer it if they didn't find out that Blue Diamond's Sapphire was nearby.

Rose looked lovingly at one of the biggest and healthiest of the flowers, but gasped in distraught surprise when, quite without warning, it burst into flames. Before Rose could extinguish the small fire, it spread, like a conscious, wild animal. The fire raced around Rose, forming a wide circle of tall, dancing flames.

Amidst the inferno, the forms of three Gems rose. They were almost ghost-like, with flailing arms, devoid of fingers or hands, and orange and red bodies, which simply faded away into the fire, instead of ending with legs. Their mouths and eyes were little more than darker flames, and their gems floated freely around their torsos. They circled Rose, in the flames, giving a spine-chilling cackle as they formed. Even Rose, who had never left earth, knew who she was dealing with- Yellow Diamond's infamous Corundum Triplets.

Rumour had it that the triplets began as one gem, which broke into three, in the ground before they formed for the first time. This probably wasn't true, since a broken gem always meant death, before or after emerging, but it was a popular theory, since the three of them tended to speak and act as one, which made then off-putting conversationalists, and formidable combatants. They were also known for their sadistic nature and tendency to get carried away, when following orders.

"Well look who it is!" One cackled. "The infamous Rose Quartz!" "We're not worthy!"

"Corundum..." Rose greeted them, coldly. "How did you find me here?"

The triplets gave a renewed set of giggles, and their flames danced taller.

"Yellow Diamond's been keeping tabs on you for a while." "Eyes everywhere!" "Never know who you can trust..."

Rose summoned a pair of shields, nervous of the Corundums' threatening tone. "What are you doing here?" What she really wanted to tell them, was to calm down, before they started a forest fire, but feared she would only provoke them.

"We're here to deliver a message..." "… from yellow Diamond herself." "You should be honoured!"

Rose scoffed. "Yellow is forbidden from sending her Gems here, on order from White Diamond!"

The triplets gave sarcastic gasps, and looked back and forth at each other, while still circling Rose. "Rose has a point!" "Yellow's been a bad Gem!" "She should take a leaf from the rebel's book!"

"Alright!" Rose abruptly addressed the triplets' sarcasm. "What's the message?"

In an instant, the Corundums stopped circling, and the flames lowered to a tiny simmer. Without the flames, the Corundums had legs, fading to the colour and texture of coal, the further down their body they went. As one, they replied. "You've been summoned to an audience!"

A device appeared in front of Rose, hovering in an orange bubble. It resembled the grip of a rifle, with a single, white gem on it. Rose knew what it did. When activated, it would transmit its holder, via the Galaxy Warp, to a pre-programmed destination, anywhere in Gem Space. Since Yellow's forces had illegally set foot on earth, it was unlikely that it would lead her to all four Diamonds. What was Yellow up to?

"You expect me to go willingly, straight to Yellow Diamond?" Pink asked, cautiously and sincerely.

After a terrifying pause, the tiny circle of flames exploded upwards, blotting out the sky. A trio of gigantic faces sneered at Rose through the inferno.

"YOU'LL DO AS WE SAY..." "… OR WE'LL BURN THIS FOREST TO THE GROUND..." "… PLANT LOVER!"

Rose _was_ a plant lover, but she would hardly abandon the Rebellion to save a forest. There were hundreds of Gems, fighting for their own reasons, and counting on Rose's leadership. No, if Rose went, it wouldn't be because she wanted to protect the plants, nor because she couldn't take the triplets in a fight (she probably could), but because if Rose stayed, Yellow Diamond could get more aggressive. She wanted to talk now, but what if next time, it was the full force of all four Diamonds kicking down her door?

Frowning reluctantly, Rose popped the bubble and held the device. The triplets cackled madly as the gem illuminated and, with a flash of light, Rose Quartz vanished.


	19. The Beginning of the End

**Hey guys, a couple of people have mentioned Pearl's relationship with Rose. I've neglected that deliberately. Pearl and Rose are important people in Pink's life, but this is a story about Pink, so I'm trying not to let anyone else pull focus. Anyway, without further ado, here's another chapter which doesn't feature Pink at all. Enjoy! ^_^**

* * *

The white glare of hyperspace travel slowly faded, and, as she got her bearings, Rose Quartz found herself in a room she recognised, not because she had been there before, but because it looked exactly like Pink Diamond's control room, save for the yellow colour scheme. The only other Gem in the room, was Yellow Diamond, sitting in her throne. Notably, her throne had a workstation, just like Pink's, for her Pearl, but it was empty. Combined with the Corundums' presence on earth, this told Rose that, whatever she was doing here, it was strictly off the books.

"Rose Quartz." Yellow greeted her. Her voice didn't contain anger, resentment, or pride, in fact, her neutrality was very reminiscent of White's. "At last we meet."

"Yellow Diamond." Rose returned the greeting. "I'm surprised you were able to find me. What could be so important that the other Diamonds couldn't be allowed the chance to capture me? Or too... important... for the ears of your Pearl?" She asked, suspiciously.

"You're here because we have something of a common interest." Yellow said. "Or at the very least, interests which overlap enough for us to assist each other."

Rose pondered for a moment. Only one interest came to mind. "An end to the war..."

"In a way." Yellow confirmed. "Specifically, the shattering of the leader of the Rebellion."

Rose scowled. She considered summoning her shield, but she doubted she could defeat Yellow on her own ship. As she had said to Ruby, she would have to talk her way out of this. "Then why haven't I been shattered?"

Yellow sneered smugly, and stood up. "Because you're not the leader of the Rebellion."

Rose gasped in alarm, before she thought to deny Yellow's claim. Technically Yellow was incorrect. Rose was the leader of the Rebellion, just not the founder, but it hardly seemed like the time for semantics.

"How did you know...?" She conceded.

Yellow made an even more condescending face. "You just told me..."

Rose's heart sank, what had she done? Noticing the expressing on her face, Yellow laughed cruelly.

"Don't feel bad Rose, I've had my suspicions about Pink from the beginning, recently enforced quite strongly, when she refused to use a weapon, which would have ended the war. I was only curious to know if I was correct. In truth, I don't care if Pink started this Rebellion. If she did, she's a traitor, and if she didn't, she's pathetic and weak. Either way, I need her gone, and you need the earth to be free."

Rose was beginning to understand. "You want me to shatter Pink Diamond." She scoffed at how ridiculous Yellow's optimism was. "I'm the only Gem in the universe who can do it, with no suspicion on anyone else. Someone the other Diamonds will believe would shatter her."

Yellow and Rose shared a look. Rose's expression said, 'You must be joking', while Yellow simply stared at her, as though waiting for her answer.

"No." Rose said, sternly. "Shattering Pink would only enrage the other Diamonds, it wouldn't end the war."

"Oh, but it would." Yellow disagreed. "If you shatter Pink, Blue Diamond will lose the will to fight. White may wish to make an example of you, but she's recently developed a taste for democracy, and I give you my word, that I will advocate for the abandonment of the earth."

Rose grinned snidely, and almost burst out laughing. "Why in the stars would you expect me to value your word? We just met, and we're enemies!"

Yellow sat back down on her throne. "I don't, of course, that's why I brought a guest with me." She gestured with her hand, and a door behind her throne slid open. "Rose Quartz, I'd like to introduce you to a very special Gem."

From the door, a Gem entered the control room. At first, Rose thought it was a defective Sapphire. She was taller than most Sapphires, and her colour scheme differed dramatically on each side of a wavy line that ran vertically from her head, to the hem of her dress. On one side, she had pink hair, red skin and a red and orange dress, while on the other side, she had bright yellow hair and clothes, with pale yellow skin. Most curiously of all, Rose could just about make out two eyes peeking out from under her bangs, one yellow and one red. She skipped merrily across the room, giggling softly, and occasionally even twirling around. When she drew close, Rose noticed the reason for her abnormalities. She wasn't one Sapphire at all, but two, a fusion with a gem on the back of each hand.

"Rose Quartz... meet Star Sapphire." Yellow announced.

Star ran around Rose like an excited child, looking at her all over. "You're an exciting one!" She said, loudly. "You've got one coming up! Oooh! I can't wait to see what you decide!"

"One? One what?" Rose asked.

Star Sapphire giggled, and stood on her tiptoes, so as to get as close as she could to Rose's ear. "A crossroad." She whispered.

"Star Sapphire is a unique fusion of an ordinary Yellow Sapphire, and a severely defective Padparadscha." Yellow explained. "Padparadscha has no future vision at all. Instead, she only makes asinine comments on what's recently happened around her. Her superiors were prepared to shatter her, when it dawned on me, that her power isn't mere commentary, but the ability to peer through time, just as any other Sapphire does. Still useless, of course, but when fused with a functional Sapphire, the results are... spectacular."

While Yellow took a breath, Rose watched Star dreamily wander around the control room, occasionally spinning around in circles, until she became dizzy.

"Star Sapphire can predict... 'crossroads' as she calls them, moments in time where one decision can cause severely different outcomes for the universe, and can forsee what each outcome will be. Put simply, Star Sapphire can show you exactly what will happen, if you do, and do not agree to shatter Pink Diamond."

Rose reeled. She had never thought of the potential of defective Sapphires before. Without waiting for a response, Yellow turned to Star and nodded. Like an earth predator who had spotted a field mouse, Star ran at Rose, and leapt upwards, slapping the palm of her left hand against the taller Gem's forehead.

From Rose's perspective, time seemed to accelerate. Yellow Diamond asked Rose to shatter Pink, and she said yes. Rose returned to earth, found Pink Diamond, with the help of Garnet, and shattered her. Suddenly, Rose could see events as they transpired across the galaxy. On Homeworld, a distraught group of Diamonds desperately planned their retaliation.

True to Yellow's word, she saw no need to destroy the earth, and colonising it felt distasteful to her and Blue. However, with Pink gone, the use of Yellow's cannon now had the majority vote, and of course, Yellow wouldn't change her mind, now that the detested rebels had shattered a Diamond. Rose was so distressed, she almost felt her form flicker, as she saw the Diamonds' attack, and the effect it had on her people. The last thing she saw as the vision faded away, was herself, Garnet and Pearl, emerging from behind Rose's shield, surrounded by the mutated remains of her army.

"That's horrible!" Rose cried, tears pouring freely down her face. "Why would you show me that? How could you possibly think that would convince me to do something so terrible!?"

Yellow smiled slightly. "Because the alternative is much... much... worse."

As she saw Star approaching again, Rose thought about resisting, but of course, this was something she needed to know. Star jumped up to Rose's eye level, and placed her right palm against Rose head, and the second vision commenced.

After Rose said no to Yellow Diamond's demand, the sinister matriarch unleashed a maelstrom of lightning which bypassed Rose's shield and dispersed her form. As soon as Rose's gem hit the ground, Yellow strode over and stamped Rose Quartz into powder.

With no one else to turn to, Yellow took Pink's demise into her own hands. She brought a colossal fleet, of thousands of ships to Pink's colony, where her forces obliterated the earth and its moon, and every Gem in the system.

On Homeworld, White Diamond expressed emotion, for the first time anyone was aware of. She screamed at Yellow furiously, inconsolable over what she had done. From there, there was another crossroad. Either Gem society would divide into factions, and Yellow would rule her own colonies by herself, or White and Blue would declare war against Yellow, and conflict would break out on every planet in Gem Space.

Yellow's control room swam back into view. As Rose got her bearings, she noticed Star Sapphire looking up at her.

"It's a horrific decision to have to make..." The short fusion admitted, "...but an easy one!"

Without another word, Star pranced across the control room, back the way she had come.

"What... is wrong with you...?" Rose Quartz whispered, with a terrifying scowl on her face.

"Hmm?" Yellow prompted her to elaborate.

"You would shatter a Diamond yourself... tear Gem society apart, one way or another, sooner than let Pink Diamond exist? Her death is more important to you, than your entire society!? Your position!?"

"Gem society is already unravelling!" Yellow shouted, slamming her fist on her armrest. "More Gems are rebelling every day! Even with White and Blue's blockade, they keep flooding to earth... and worse..."

Yellow tapped her controls, and several dozen spheres, representing planets and moons controlled by the Diamonds, were projected between the two Gems. The earth was highlighted in bright red, but there were spots of red on a handful of other planets, too.

"Pockets of resistance are beginning to form off-world. Pink Diamond's ideals are like a virus, and it needs to be quarantined, _immediately_."

Rose frowned at Yellow's metaphor, but, from the Diamond's point of view, Rose could see that she was right. Pink had inspired an uprising, which could free Gems throughout the universe. The only problem was, that was something Yellow Diamond had to prevent, at any cost.

Before Rose said anything else, Yellow climbed to her feet again, and clenched her fist, around a crackle of small lightning bolts, which danced down her arms, menacingly. "I need an answer, Rose Quartz! Right now! Yes or no?"

Rose scowled furiously. The only other option she could think of was to attack Yellow, but according to Star, Rose's shield was ineffective against her lightning bolts, and she would lose. Rose believed her. As much as Rose would be prepared to lay her life on the line for Pink, she couldn't risk losing the chance to save the earth, even at such a terrible cost.

"It seems I don't have a choice..."


	20. Conspiracy to Shatter

With a flash of light, Rose Quartz returned to the spot from which she'd warped. The Corundum triplets were gone, but had left a large circle of charred, black grass. Thankfully, the surrounding forest hadn't ignited. Standing next to the circle, were Ruby and Sapphire, Ruby had been looking incredibly anxious, until Rose returned, while Sapphire had maintained her usual decorum.

"ROSE!" Ruby almost shouted. "You're back! Oh, thank the stars..."

Despite not needing to breathe, Ruby doubled over and loudly sucked air into her lungs, in an effort to calm herself. Sapphire rested a hand on her back, reassuringly.

"I told you she would be."

Ruby parted Sapphire's fringe and looked endearingly into her eye. "I know... Sorry for freaking out..."

The two Gems lovingly embraced, and, with a gleam of light, Garnet was back.

"Rose." She calmly greeted her comrade. "Ruby saw the fire from the base. Corundums."

"Did she tell anyone?" Rose asked, urgently.

Garnet was only slightly taken aback by Rose's tone. Her secret summons (Garnet assumed to have come from Yellow Diamond) already hinted that something serious was going on, which was why Ruby hadn't.

"Only Sapphire." Garnet replied.

"Good." Rose sighed in relief. No one could know Rose and Yellow had met, for the sake of Gem society beyond the earth. "The war's coming to a close, Garnet..." She sighed, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Can you sense it?"

Garnet frowned. "Whenever Pink Diamond visits earth, there's a potential future in which she's confronted by a rogue cell, and shattered."

Rose turned away from Garnet, and stared wistfully at the sea. "Well, pretty soon... one of those futures is going to come true." She promised, her voice shaking just slightly.

Garnet stared at the back of Rose's head. One of Garnet's most prominent mannerisms was that she never asked questions, as Rose had inadvertently instructed her not to, when they first met, so Rose didn't waste time, waiting for Garnet to pry the truth from her. She turned back around, and Garnet gasped slightly, to notice tears flowing freely down Rose's face.

"I'm going to shatter Pink Diamond!" Rose cried, in helpless distress.

-x-x-x-

Rose couldn't return to the base, and look her soldiers in the eye. Even though it had always been unlikely that the war could be ended peacefully, it had always been the mission. Rose had always believed that Gems being free needn't come at such a terrible cost, how wrong she had been. It was ironic in a way- when Pink Diamond summoned her to begin the rebellion, Rose had had to vanish from her people, never to be seen again. Now, Yellow Diamond had summoned her to end the rebellion, and she had done the same thing.

At Rose's order, Garnet had returned to the base, and sent word to Tayko and Pearl, who were serving as Rose's generals, overseeing cells of the rebellion all over the world. It had been decades since all four of them were in the same place. Garnet told them that Rose needed her "inner circle" to make some final plans for the rebellion, but couldn't share any more details, as Garnet hadn't received any.

With the chime of a Warp Whistle, the warp pad by Rose's Fountain activated, and Tayko appeared, joining the other three. The site was used to store a massive supply of tears Rose had gathered over the years, so her Gems might have an indefinite supply, if anything ever happened to her. She would have been happy with a simple storage unit, but some of her more creative Bismuths had chosen to erect an extravagant fountain with a breath-taking sculpture of Rose in the center. Rather than simply storing the tears, a pipe network ensured that they pour from the statue's eyes and pool into the fountain around it. It was impractical, but mesmerising to look at.

In the past few centuries, Tayko's mutations had intensified slightly. She still needed to eat, and regularly ate apples from trees which descended from the one Pink Diamond had grown, correctly assuming they would keep her young and strong. Her green skin now had an almost scaley texture, and she had grown several more thorns, which ran down the back of each forearm, and could tear through a Gem's physical form like she was made of air.

"So, what's going on, Rose?" Tayko asked, sparing no time for pleasantries. Tayko liked and respected Rose enough, but she was anxious, being away from her troops. "Garnet said you were approaching your endgame...?"

"Yes... I..." Rose began, reluctantly.

"She's going to shatter Pink Diamond!" Garnet said, through gritted teeth. Garnet had almost unfused again, upon receiving the news, but Sapphire was almost as outraged as Ruby.

"WHAT!?" Pearl and Tayko responded in unison.

"No, she damn well isn't!" Tayko snarled.

"Rose, are you insane!?" Pearl added.

Rose sighed and cradled her forehead. "Alright, before we go into that... Garnet, I need to share something with you. A secret held only by Pink Diamond, her Pearl, and the three of us..."

Tayko and Pearl looked at each other, nervously. They both trusted Garnet entirely, but they had all agreed that there was no need for anyone else to know the origin of the Rebellion.

"I... didn't start this rebellion." Rose sighed. "I was invited to do so... by Pink Diamond, herself, so that she could appear to be trying to build a colony, and so that the other Diamonds wouldn't do it for her, and before you joined, she was providing us with invaluable, inside information."

Garnet stared at Rose silently, her mouth hanging open slightly. Slowly, her body began to glow, building up to a solid white, until Ruby and Sapphire unfused once more.

"YOU LIAR!" Ruby shouted at Rose. "This whole time, we've been fighting for you, because you told us you believed in freedom, but you're just following a Diamond's orders, same as Homeworld Gems!"

"It's not that simple..." Pearl retorted, angrily.

"Pink is a rebel, same as us! The only thing we've lied about, is which Diamonds we're fighting!" Tayko added.

"The three of you were some of the only rebels, who I never saw shattering Pink Diamond... even if you had the chance." Sapphire said, factually.

Ruby folded her arms, angrily. "We thought it was because you had the most compassion! We admired that!"

"So, what's this about you shattering Pink?" Tayko asked, with a threatening edge to her voice. She clenched her fist, and a series of thorns, running down her forearm elongated slowly.

Rose sighed again. "Yellow Diamond summoned me to a meeting..." She waited a moment for the quiet gasps to end. "She's planning on destroying this planet, and everything on it. Us, Pink, all the life that lives here, and all the Gems fighting in the war, on both sides... The only way to stop her... is to shatter Pink myself."

"Not an option..." Tayko immediately responded. "This is Yellow we're talking about, she probably lied!"

Rose shook her head. "Her Sapphire showed me, it's true."

Tayko grabbed handfuls of her flowing, pink hair. "Then we contact Pink, let her know what Yellow's planning!"

Tayko was desperate, the whole group knew what was wrong with that plan. "She'll need to say where she got the information, to be taken seriously." Pearl said, glumly. "She can't prove it without revealing her own crime, which will be considered much worse, by the Diamonds."

Tayko rounded on Pearl. "You're not entertaining this!?" She insisted. "Pearl, where would you be, without Pink? On Homeworld, doing White Diamond's grunt work, or shattered, for trying to be yourself! And Garnet, if it weren't for Pink, you wouldn't even be here! Ruby and Sapphire would still be a miserable aristocrat and foot soldier, on opposite ends of the galaxy! And you!" She turned to Rose. "You wouldn't even exist!"

"No one is arguing that Pink is a wonderful Gem..." Rose said, her voice carried tones of both misery and fury. "But the issue isn't if Pink should be shattered... just a matter who will shatter her first, and who else will die. Tayko, if you have an idea of how to save Pink's life, then I'd love to hear it! Some strategy, or weapon, that can repel the entirety of Yellow's forces? Do _not_ mistake this for something I would like to do..."

The group fell silent, for several minutes, the only sound was the gentle trickle of the fountain, and the sound of bird songs. After what felt like an age, Sapphire spoke up. "I can see it." She said, her voice trembling slightly.

The group rounded on her, in alarm.

"You mean...?" Ruby began, before trailing off, reluctant to even say the words.

"Pink Diamond will come to earth, where you will meet her and... and..." Sapphire attempted to complete her prophecy, but as she trailed off, the group noticed a single stream of tears rolling from under her fringe.

Ruby gasped and pulled Sapphire into a hug. Rose cringed, hesitant to push the distraught Gem for further details, but she scarcely had the time for sensitivity.

"Sapphire, I'm sorry... but why will Pink Diamond leave her Diamond Base?" She asked.

Sapphire lifted her head from Ruby's shoulder. "I can't see... but based on what you've said, I assume her Sapphires have told her the same thing."

"She knows she'll be shattered if she comes to earth?" Tayko asked, in disbelief.

Rose sighed in distress, "And I'm sure she knows why."


	21. The End

In the Diamond Base, on earth's moon, Pink was exhausted. Even though it had been several years since she'd had time to indulge in a night's sleep, Pink had never overworked herself, or gotten stressed, to the extent that she was now. Her encounter with Yellow, at the weapons testing facility had haunted her since her return. White Diamond was right, Yellow must have known she would never get permission to use her gun, but she had made it anyway. Why? Would she use it without permission? Would she find a way to sway Blue diamond?

Every shard in her gem was on edge, ready for Yellow's next move, whatever it was. She monitored the Galaxy Net and all earth broadcasts, for any sign of Yellow's activity, from her throne, at the very top of the base. The earth hung in the sky above her. Despite everything that had happened, it looked exactly the same as it always had, from space. Pink sighed, as she stared up at the world that could have once been her colony. She had spent a lot of time daydreaming lately, about how wonderful the colony would have been, if she had gotten her way, and there were no other Diamonds to interfere with and threaten her.

Pink jumped slightly, as she was stirred from her thoughts, when the hatch in the floor beside the throne slid backwards, and Pink's Pearl, and one of her Sapphires ascended the stairs. Besides being pink, the Sapphire was also distinguished from other Gems of her cut, by tying her hair into pigtails, proudly revealing her singular eye.

"My Diamond!" Pearl greeted, in an anxious voice, saluting. "One of your Sapphires has come to me, with a most disturbing vision!"

Pink turned to face them. "What is it?" She asked.

Pearl led Sapphire to the front of Pink's throne, and instructed her to relay her prophecy with a nod of her head.

The Sapphire saluted. "My Diamond... I have foreseen you travelling to earth, to Sector 12-AY. While you are there, you will be confronted by Rose Quartz, informed on where to find you by Blue Diamond's own, rebel Sapphire."

Before Sapphire finished, Pink's mind raced, as she considered what possible reason there could be for her or Rose to go to that sector. Perhaps Rose had learnt of Yellow's weapon and wanted to talk about strategy? What confused her the most, was the location. Sector 12-AY had no base, no weapons, no Gem activity whatsoever, in fact, the only Gems who knew the significance of that place, were Peridot Prime and the Diamonds.

"While you are there..." Sapphire continued, her voice trembled, just slightly. "Rose Quartz will shatter you... I'm not certain how..."

Sapphire's words hit Pink like a bolt of lightning. She sat in her throne, staring, unblinkingly at nothing in particular, while the gears in her mind raced once more.

"My... my Diamond?" Pearl prompted, hesitantly, with a desperation in her voice, for some kind of defense strategy.

Pink snapped out of it. "Right... Y... yes. Thank you, Sapphire." Pink said, absently. "Leave me alone for a moment... please. I... I need to think."

The two smaller, pink Gems hesitated for just a moment, before saluting, and chorusing, "Yes, my Diamond."

As they reached the stairs, Pink called after them. "Sapphire... who else have you told about this?"

"Only your Pearl, my Diamond."

"Good... no one else can know about this... that's an order."

The two Gems gave another, hesitant affirmation, before descending the stairs to the lower base, and allowing the hatch to close behind them.

Rose was going to shatter Pink!? Why? Pink held her head as she strained to keep track of all the moving parts of this conspiracy. It had been hundreds of years since Pink had seen Rose, but the Rose Quartz that Pink knew would never shatter another Gem, even if it meant the end of the war. Then, Pink thought of Yellow. It seemed very unlikely that it was a coincidence that this would happen so soon, after Pink had vetoed the use of Yellow's weapon. During their fight, in the Prime Kindergarten, Yellow had admitted to wanting Pink shattered, and now she had further motive, still, and if Yellow wanted Pink gone, then there was only one Gem who could do it, and cause no one to ask further questions.

Of course, Pink didn't want to be shattered. Gems feared their mortality, just as organic life did, even if they had the benefit of potentially out-living the universe. But if Rose wanted Pink shattered, and Yellow had something to do with it, then there must be something severe looming. A small part of Pink hoped that Sapphire was wrong, and that a peaceful resolution could be found, but one way or another, she was going to meet Rose Quartz.

The Sapphire would have to have her memory erased, no one could know that Pink would deliberately meet with Rose. In addition, Pink had been travelling with a defensive entourage, out of sincere concern for her own safety, whenever she visited earth. She would need to take them with her, too, for appearance's sake. No matter what happened, no one could ever know the true nature of Pink and Rose's relationship. Of course, they would try to fight off Rose, but Pink had been holding onto a very special Gem artifact for just such an occasion.

Pink rose to her feet, with a look of resolve and determination on her face, but nevertheless, her hands trembled slightly. She made her way down the stairs to the rest of the base. The location of Pink and Rose's meeting quickly made sense. If there was a chance Pink would be shattered, then there was somewhere she wanted to be, one last time.

-x-x-x-

It was incredible to Pink, how the earth was constantly changing, while, in many ways, remaining the same. She had been to Sector 12-AY countless times over the centuries, and although the towering mountains and serene crashing of the ocean were always the same, the foliage and animals she saw never were. Pink's most significant memory of the area was, of course, her very earliest memory- of emerging from her crystals and meeting Tayko for the first time. Since then, she had grown her tree, several humans moved into the area, the humans (to Pink's dismay) burned the tree and the surrounding forest, but then the foliage had returned, stronger than ever.

Pink's palanquin landed gently in a small clearing, next to a barely noticeable pile of cloudy, grey crystals. The small vessel had barely touched the ground, when there was a blinding flash of light, which resulted in the appearance of two dozen combat-ready Gems. Mostly Agates and Jaspers, but also a handful of Rubies.

The entourage stood around the palanquin, with discipline, facing away from it, prepared, should an enemy sneak up on them. Although they had all heard the palanquin doors open, it quickly caught the Gems' attention that no one had come out. Eventually, an Agate carefully turned her head. Pink was sitting in the vessel's seat, resting her forehead on her hand. Her Pearl stood next to her, frowning in sympathy, but not saying anything.

"M... my Diamond?" The Agate eventually spoke up. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes..." Pink sighed, not entirely convincingly. "Everything's fine."

Pink rose to her feet, and descended the stairs of her palanquin. She had taken just a few steps, when a lone figure descended just beyond the small group of gems, as if having fallen from the sky. In one hand, she held a pink sword, on the back of the other, was projected an iconic shield.

High up on the mountain, Pearl, Garnet and Tayko watched the scene with anxious anticipation. Tayko breathed so loudly, she was practically growling, and her fists were clenched. Garnet rested a hand on her shoulder, sympathetically, without restraining her. On the other side of the clearing, the tiny, smoldering form of a Corundum stealthily watched the scene developing.

"Rose Quartz!" Several of Pink's Gems shouted in alarm.

Pink's entourage immediately fell into formation, just as they had been trained to do. They divided into defensive and attack positions, so that they might attempt to capture Rose, while still ensuring Pink's safety. Rose cringed. She still couldn't say, with certainty, that she would be able to shatter Pink, but either way, she would have to disrupt her entourage first.

Rose shot forwards, sword-first, Pink's soldiers did the same, but before the two forces met, Pink held up her hand and opened her fist. A ring of white light expanded horizontally, across the clearing and into the distance, and when it faded, Rose slowed to a halt and marveled at the result. With the exception of Pink and Rose, everything in sight was utterly motionless. The Gems stood frozen, in their fighting stances, birds hung in the sky, and the crashing of the ocean had given way to eerie silence. Unbeknown to Pink and Rose, even their stealthy spectators were frozen in time.

Rose looked to Pink, in awe. Hovering above the palm of the Diamond's hand, was a tiny, glass sphere.

"It's called the Hour Glass." Pink explained, half-heartedly. "I pulled it from Homeworld scientists mid-development. Its power is limited... we don't have long..."

Rose slowly approached Pink, fighting back tears. "I almost hoped you wouldn't come..." She whispered. "You know why we're here?"

"I assume Yellow had persuaded you to shatter me... probably by threatening to do something worse."

"Her Sapphire showed me..." Rose said, desperate for Pink to understand. "If I don't shatter you, she'll destroy this entire planet, with you on it..."

A nervous grin spread across Pink's face, which became a distorted laugh. "Damn her..." She said, miserably. "My stars... everything would have been so wonderful, if not for her."

Pink stepped across the clearing towards the crystals and picked up one of the remaining shards. It seemed like millions of years ago, that a cheerful, bright-eyed Diamond had emerged from this very spot, with dreams of a sustainable colony on earth. She could just about remember the feeling of sleeping in a tree, eating apples and climbing a mountain, just for the fun of it.

Eventually, Pink turned back to Rose. The smaller Gem stood immobile, her sword in hand, clutched tightly. The conflict was clear on Rose's face. "Rose... a long time ago... I gave you the freedom to do as you pleased, for the liberation of Gems on earth... I'm revoking it." Pink said, in a serious voice. "I'm ordering you to do what you have to do to protect this planet!"

"Wh... what?" Rose asked. She had no idea how this encounter would go, but Pink's response was surprising.

"Protect my world, Rose Quartz!" Pink shouted, a tear rolling down her left cheek. "Whatever it takes!"

A deafening silence followed, more so, for the absence of the sounds of the forest. After what seemed like an eternity, Rose saluted, without dropping her sword. "Yes... My Diamond..."

Fighting against all of her inhibitions and morals, as they tried to pull her back, Rose forced herself to step towards Pink Diamond, and trained her sword at her matriarch's gem. Pink closed her eyes and took a resounding breath through her nose. Quite without warning, a second circle of light receded into the glass sphere in Pink's hand. Pink's entourage were mobile again in an instant. Rose spared them one look, before turning back to Pink and thrusting with her sword.

 **CRACK**

* * *

 **Aaaand fade to darkness. So that's my theory. Don't unfollow just yet, as there'll be a short epilogue, but then the story's finished. I hope y'all liked it!**


	22. Epilogue

The war ended and the years on earth began to race by. Just as Star Sapphire had predicted, Only Rose, Pearl and Garnet survived the Diamond's final attack and act of revenge for their fallen sister. The Crystal Gems congregated at their primary hideout, by the beach, and made a life for themselves, retrieving their corrupted sisters-in-arms. Rose had tried to heal them, to no avail, but she would never give up.

Although Pearl and Garnet were indifferent, Rose felt privileged to be able to watch human society as it grew and flourished. The humans gave Rose additional purpose. As well as fighting to bring peace to the corrupted Gems, she would fight to protect the organic species she cared for, as Pink had.

Rose formed several romantic connections with humans over the years, but all ended in one of two ways. Rose's partner would age while she didn't, and ultimately, they would grow bitter and resentful of her immortality, or simply die, either way, breaking her heart. When Rose fell in love with Greg Universe, she couldn't allow the same thing to happen.

Several thousand years after the war, a severely pregnant Rose Quartz climbed the hill towards a painfully memorable location. In the millennia since Pink Diamond had set foot in her former kindergarten for the last time, no one had moved her palanquin, and it had succumbed to the toll that time had taken. One of the legs had worn away, and it slumped diagonally. Half of the latticed exterior had become home to climbing plants, boasting attractive, pink flowers. Humans had built a road running adjacent to the area, and in the distance, the rabble of a large city could be heard, faintly.

At Rose's side, stood a remorseful-looking Pearl. She had been somewhat distraught, since learning of Rose's decision to have a child, and being here wasn't improving her mood, despite it being something she had chosen to do. Shortly after their arrival, Garnet approached the site from the other direction, supportively holding the hand of an elderly woman with a cane, who had wisps of pink, amongst her silvery hair.

"Tayko." Rose greeted, sounding somewhat surprised. It had been a couple of centuries since she had last seen the mutated human. Tayko had very gradually aged over the years, despite never having eaten a single pink apple since Pink's shattering. The last time Rose had seen her, her skin still had a green tint, and there were visible scars where her thorns used to be. Rose had never seen her looking so human, nor so old. "You're looking well." Rose said, sweetly.

"I look like a prune, Rose." Tayko said, laughing gently. "You don't have to sugar coat it."

"Thank you for coming to meet us." Rose said. "I really wanted us all to be together, one last time..."

"You probably would have run into me anyway... I've been coming here a lot, recently." Tayko sighed.

The group fell silent, as the three Gems and the human took a moment to gaze upon the dilapidated vehicle, and think of the Gem who had once used it.

"I guess we're both running out of time to clear the air..." Tayko said, looking at Rose's engorged abdomen. "… I'm not angry at you, Rose." She sighed, wistfully. "I was... for a long time. Not out of logic, or reason, just because I had to be, at someone... She was my best friend, for much longer than any human has ever stayed alive... If I could have warped to Homeworld and yelled at Yellow Diamond, I would have..." Tayko snorted gently. "But I'm getting too old for grudges now..."

Rose smiled gratefully. "Thank you... Pink was a wonderful Gem, and we all owe her so much. I just wish..."

Rose trailed off, and again, silence fell. Of course, everyone knew what Rose wished, they had all spent the last few thousand years, daydreaming about how else the war might have ended, or been avoided, and they were all growing tired of it.

Tayko nodded towards Rose's bump, and turned to Garnet. "You seen what it'll be like, yet?"

"It's a boy..." Garnet said. "And he'll look like Rose, but with shorter, black hair."

"What are we going to tell him... about all of this?" Pearl laughed, awkwardly. "That we betrayed our Homeworld, and our fellow rebels, at the same time?"

"Don't forget the part where it's our fault the world is full of monsters..." Garnet added, smiling weakly.

Rose cradled the bump that contained her gestating child. It was abnormal enough for Gems to feel love in the first place, even more so when Rose had fallen in love with humans, but the love Rose felt for the child she was yet to meet... could never meet... was unlike any sensation she had ever felt before.

"When he's old enough to know about the war... Tell him we were brave... uncertain... and we did everything we could to make the earth a good place... for humans and Gems..." Rose said, a single tear streaming down her face. She stepped over to the palanquin and gently rested her hand on it. "And if he finds out about the other Diamonds... Let him think what he will of them... I only hope they're as tired of fighting as I am..."


End file.
